Unexpected
by ThePhantomoftheLightningThief
Summary: When Max begrudgingly moves from sunny Arizona to snowy Colorado, she has no desire to make friends and has no hope for finding a new home until she meets Fang, who hasn't made a new friend since kindergarten. Between the cold weather, tiny town and her nonexistent social life, will Max ever call Colorado home? A classic story detailing the wingless escapades of Max and Co.
1. Chapter 1

I felt the wind rush through my hair and listened to the steady sound of my shoes hitting the pavement. Bon Jovi's _We Don't Run_ was blasting in my ears helping me push through the pain. I reached down to grab my phone from my running belt, when I was slammed to the ground.

"What the hell?" I asked angrily, brushing dirt from the sidewalk off my hands. I looked up and was face to face with a guy around my age who had dark hair covering his forehead.

"Maybe you should watch where you're going," he responded instantly.

"Seriously?" I asked rolling my eyes. "You were the one that ran into me!"

He opened his mouth about to retort again, when someone yelled "Fang," and he turned towards the voice.

"Hi Mr. Meyer, how've you been?"

"Not too bad," the older man said with a chuckle. He ran a hand over his balding head, "Staying out of trouble, are we?"

The guy named Fang nodded and the corner of his mouth twitched. "Doing my best, sir. School starts up in a couple of days, so I'll be back at it again."

"Well, have a good year, Fang! And tell your parents I said 'Hello'," he called as he turned back into the store. I looked up and a dark blue awning reading Meyer's Fresh Groceries hung where the man had previously been standing.

"Fang?" I asked, and he returned his attention towards me. "Interesting name."

He shrugged. "I guess. I had a minor biting problem." He must have noticed my raised eyebrows because he quickly added, "As a kid. Definitely not a biter any more." I found myself laughing for the first time in a few days.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that you can restrain yourself now." A smirk played on his lips, but it quickly faded.

"Times change. My real name's Nick. Ride. Who are you anyway? You don't look familiar."

"I'm Max Martinez, and my family just moved here because my mom got supposedly got a better job here. She's a veterinarian just opened her own clinic down by the quarry."

"You don't sound thrilled to be here."

"You're not wrong," I muttered. "We used to live in Arizona, so I'm not exactly a fan of the weather or elevation."

He just shrugged. "Well, I gotta run," he smirked as he said that noticing that I had been mid-run when he had ruthlessly interrupted me. "I'll see you around, maybe."

I rolled my eyes as he gave me a half-hearted wave with two fingers after he had turned around. I pushed my headphones back in, listened to the heavy beat and felt my feet regain their steady pace as I headed back to our new house. I still refused to call it home. If home is where the heart is, it certainly wasn't here. My heart ached as I headed up the hill to our house that was nestled in the back part of town, but not from all of the running. I missed my old friends, my old house and most importantly my ex-boyfriend Sam, who I had to break things off with when I left. Long-distance never worked and I knew I would just end up hurting myself in the end by holding on to all of my life from Arizona and refusing to let go and start a new life here. But still, it wasn't easy and it was definitely not something I wanted to do.

I took my last few paces up the paved driveway and then eased into a walk before sitting in the lush grass to start stretching. Running had always felt like visiting a long-lost friend because it was the only time I was truly alone with my thoughts, and it was the only way I could truly feel relaxed. To me, running was almost like flying. It was the perfect escape.

"How was your run?" my mom asked as she heard the front door slam. "Shoes in the mudroom!"

I shrugged as I entered the kitchen. "It was good; I'm still not used to this elevation at all. It's totally messing with my max VO2 though." I was pretty sure I saw my mom roll her eyes as I headed upstairs to finish unpacking.

"Max!" I heard my younger sister shriek. "Are you excited for school on Monday? I already can't wait to meet everyone and make new friends. Besides, I have such a good outfit picked out," she paused. "I can help you pick one out to! You know, a good first day outfit for socializing, meeting the boys." She gave me a wink as she returned to pinning up twinkly Christmas lights in a large square around her ceiling.

"How about one that is comfortable, doesn't show sweat and is conducive to me beating up someone if that situation presents itself?"

Ella just groaned. "C'mon, Max. We both know you're not going to pick any fights this year because I, for one, am tired of having to switch schools because of your antics. Besides, you're supposed to be the older, more mature sister that serves as a loving and generous role-model for your beautiful younger sister."

"I'll do my best," I said. "But, I'm not making any promises. And also, this last move was totally because of mom's job. You know I'm just as unhappy we had to leave Prescott." I gave her a soft smile, "I miss everyone too."

Ella returned my smile graciously and began tacking up old pictures to the wall, framing her bed with a giant sea of beaming faces smiling down on her. "It can't be all bad here, Max. I promise we'll make it work together."

"Look at you two," my mom had found her way upstairs and was watching us from the doorway with the trace of a smile on her lips. "I've never seen you get along so well. Maybe this move to Centennial Creek was exactly what we needed as a family."

I flashed Ella a rare grin. We normally argued constantly, mostly because I have a bad habit of refusing to agree with people and always fighting for the underdogs. "If you change your mind about your outfit, let me know," she called as I headed down the hall to my new room. Not having to share a bedroom and bathroom was definitely going to ease the tension between the two of us and I was sure this would lead to more pleasant mornings.

It turns out, I was sorely mistaken. Apparently, it wasn't Ella who made waking up at 6:30 in the morning painful, it was the fact that it was simply still the middle of the night. I groaned as the sunlight flickered into my room through my curtains. Clearly, my plan of sleeping as much as possible in the last week of summer to prepare myself for this dreaded moment had not been enough because waking up this morning was no different than any other morning despite the extra sleep I had gotten. I rolled over and was drifting back off into a pleasant dream in which I was running on my favorite path back home and I was practically gliding over the hot ground when I was rudely interrupted again by my snooze.

"Max! Just get up already!" I heard my mom call from her bedroom down the hall. I suppressed another groan as I rolled out of bed and into the shower with my eyes still partially glued shut.

An hour later, I was waiting outside of the main office of the town's only high school, Harding High. Yeah, the name was ironic, but surprisingly enough I was unamused.

"Hi, my name is Max, and this is my sister Ella. We're new and were told we should come to the main office on the first day to get our schedules and lockers. The last name is Martinez." The lady sitting at the desk smiled at me and began rummaging around in a large cabinet of file folders before pulling out two pristine pieces of paper.

"Here you are, Max and Ella. Max your locker is 324C and Ella yours is 118A. The school isn't all that big, so I wouldn't be too worried about finding your way around for class, but you're more than welcome to stop by with any other questions you have. Have a good day, girls."

It had taken us longer than I had anticipated to get here as there was only one road that led from our house to the school, so we were running a tad late.

"Alright, I'm off to go find my locker and get to first period. I'll see you at lunch? 5th period?" I asked Ella, who nodded in response, then headed off down the hallway in the opposite direction.

"Have a good morning, Max! Good luck!" she called after me. I would have wished her luck too, but I knew she didn't need it. Making friends and meeting people was a breeze for Ella; she loved people and they loved her. For me, however, it was a different story.

By the time I found my locker, shoved most of my books in it and hurried down the hall to find my first period classroom, I was very nearly late. I took a moment to compose myself. Standing in the hallway, I closed my eyes, took a few deep breaths and exhaled slowly feeling my heart rate settle back down. It's just other kids, I told myself, you can do this. Besides, I thought as a last resort, who cares if no one likes you? I took a final deep breath, steeled myself and opened the door.

The class was mostly full, and the teacher was sitting at his desk, absent-mindedly scrolling through his emails, so I scurried to the back of the classroom and took an empty seat. I noticed most people eyeing me curiously and I bent down to retie the laces on my maroon high-tops that were so faded they didn't even look maroon anymore.

The bell rang, and I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding in. I had managed to make it to first period on time, find a seat and not fall anywhere in between. Our teacher stood up from his computer, gazed at us all for a moment and then picked up a clipboard and began dryly reading the names off waiting for someone to raise their hand or mutter "here" in response.

When he was just starting on the H's, the door burst open and a dark-haired figure quickly stepped in the room closing the door behind him. I noticed several girls in the front row suddenly sit up straighter and turn their attention to the boy that had just entered, but Mr. Davis did not seem to hold him in the same light. "Late on the first day Mr. Ride, not off to a good start now, are we?"

He didn't respond, but quickly headed to the back of the room and slid into the only empty desk in the room which, of course, happened to be next to me because no one wanted to sit next to the new girl. As he sat down, I realized why he looked so familiar.

"I know you," I blurted out in a loud whisper. He wrinkled his nose and turned to me, an air of bemusement on his face.

"Yeah, you're that girl that ran into me in town the other day."

"What? You completely ran into me. I was running! You're obviously at fault here," I retorted. Notoriously stubborn, I wasn't known for making a good first impression.

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever." He paused. "Why didn't you tell me you were at Harding?"

I shrugged. "You didn't ask."

"So," he retorted. "Isn't that common manners when you introduce yourself?" What on Earth was he talking about?

"Is not," I whispered back.

"Is too," he responded with a smug smirk on his face.

"Is not!' I felt like a child having such a petty argument with a stranger. He was just so annoying.

"Mr. Ride!" Mr. Davis exclaimed from the front of the room. "Could you please not be so disruptive? This is a learning environment!"

I smirked, "Learning environment? He's taking attendance!"

Speak of the devil, "Maximum Ride?"

"Here," I said in a small voice raising my hand up to make my presence known.

"Aha. You know Nicholas then?" he asked, removing his glasses to wipe a speck of dust from them with his white and black button-down shirt. Seriously, this guy could not get any more boring. I was about to interject, but he continued. "Perfect. I was supposed to assign someone to help you find your classes throughout the day, but since you know Mr. Ride here," he gave a sigh, "that matter has been solved." He turned away from me, "Nicholas, you will be in charge of escorting Maximum to her morning classes. And please be a gentleman."

"It's Fang," he muttered darkly under his breath when Mr. Davis had returned to finishing roll call.

I ignored him, still seething that Mr. Davis and the school administration felt that I needed a babysitter. I was a sophomore in high school; I didn't need to be toted around by some stupid boy for the rest of the day.

"I don't need to be escorted," I mumbled angrily under my breath.

"You sure about that?" Fang asked with another smirk as he turned his gaze towards me.

"Positive," I told him, glaring right back at him. Mr. Davis clucked his tongue for silence again, and Fang shot a look at me, his eyes wide. Suit yourself, he seemed to say.

After a painfully boring 50 minutes, I was able to go endure another brutal 50 minutes. Not backing off from my promise to Fang, I stormed out of the classroom before he had even put his books away. I looked down at my schedule suddenly confused. I was in room 310B. I was staring at two classrooms next to each other that were just down the hall from my first period government class. The room on the left was 308 and the other on the right was 312.

"Not lost are we?" I heard a familiar cocky voice ask as he stepped up beside me. I turned to glare at him. I wasn't lost, I just didn't exactly have my sense of direction perfectly in line. I could figure it out. His voice turned softer, "Here, let me take a look at what you have for the morning." He paused for a second, his eyes scanned through my schedule faster than I thought possible. "Alright, you're heading this way. My friend Iggy is in this class too - Accelerated Biology. You nerds."

"Hey," a tall blonde boy with spiked hair approached us as Fang led me around the corner and through a long hallway. He lowered his voice, "Who's the girl?"

"She's new. I was assigned to take her around today. So annoying," I heard Fang mutter from behind me.

"She's cute," I heard his friend mutter again.

"And not deaf," I said pointedly as I abruptly turned around catching them both in their tracks. Fang looked slightly embarrassed and his gaze fell to the floor, but his friend just grinned ear to ear.

"Well, judging by your poor attempt to locate 310B, I would say you might want my help for the rest of the day," Fang said looking back up.

"Oh, so your tour guide services have been extended past lunch for the whole day?" I asked sarcastically and he nodded, triumph gleaming in his eyes.

"If you insist. I could never leave you to wander the whole school by yourself."

"How gallant," my expression was sour. We had reached our destination. I followed his friend into the classroom and was surprised to see that Fang followed me. "Who's the nerd now?"

He shrugged, "Still you. And also Iggy of course."

Iggy extended his hand over Fang to me, "I'm Iggy. Fang did not do you the service of formally introducing us, so I have kindly taken that on myself."

"I'm flattered," I said with a smirk and Fang just rolled his eyes. "I'm Max."

"Short for Maximum," Fang chimed in. I wanted to smack him. I settled for a not-so-gentle shove to the shoulder and Iggy just chuckled from his desk where he watched us.

"You may have just met your match, Nicholas." Before Fang could respond, our attention was directed to the front of the room so our teacher, who insisted on being called KVD, could begin class. I was not expecting it, but she put in a quick video about how genetic diseases, like cancer, can infiltrate the host body in which they reside, and ultimately take over due to a faulty process known as apoptosis in which mutated cells don't die off naturally. I had to admit I was intrigued. The rest of the lesson was just as interesting as she went into detail of how multiple sclerosis takes hold of the body and has debilitating effects. Most people seemed enamored by what she was saying, but I noticed two redheaded girls whispering near the back inspecting their fresh manicures and occasionally turning to stare at where I was sitting with Fang and Iggy. I felt my eyes narrow as I returned my attention to KVD. I knew that breed of girls; they had populated my old high school. They were the type that were pretty and knew it, and assumed that everyone else would treat them as royalty because of it. They were the girls who would stomp on your heart and wreck your freshman year, just for the fun of it. If there was nothing exciting buzzing around school, they were always more than willing to stir the pot, kick up some drama as a hobby.

I drifted off, lost in my own thoughts until the bell rang and was annoyed with myself for losing focus during such a cool lesson. It figured, the one time I had an interesting lesson I was unable to actually pay attention and learn during it.

"Let's see," Fang had returned his gaze to my schedule. "Well I don't have any more classes with you until lunch."

"Hmm. I wonder what I'll do to entertain myself for a whole two periods in your absence." I smirked and Fang's eyes narrowed. He pointed out my classroom for 3rd and 4th period and then he and Iggy headed off to their respective classes.

I managed to survive trigonometry and my criminology class without too much trouble and had spared myself the embarrassment of getting to class late. I was wondering if I would be able to find Ella in the cafeteria to sit with her and undoubtedly her new friends when someone rammed into me.

"Geez, Max, watch where you're going," a familiar voice said. I scowled as Iggy appeared from behind me cackling with laughter. I refrained from shoving Iggy too only to maintain my reputation as a normal girl who had definitely not been expelled from a previous school for fighting in California.

"Oh look, it's my escortee," Fang said with what I assumed was his signature smirk approaching from the other side.

"So, I'm assuming you told Iggy how you ruthlessly slammed into me and ruining my lovely scenic run?" I questioned him.

"Sounded pretty vicious the way Fang told it," Iggy crooned. "You flattened him!"

"She did not!" Fang exclaimed shifting his gaze to Iggy. Iggy just shrugged, put his hands in his pockets and began humming a tune from a song I hadn't heard before.

And the "tour" continued. Iggy decided Fang was an insufficient tour guide, so he took over taking care to provide a detailed narrative describing the implementation of each piece of ceiling tile and the laying of each floor tile.

"Can I punch him?" I muttered under my breath to Fang.

"Not if I do it first."

We had finally arrived at the cafeteria. I was slightly underwhelmed - after going to school with nearly 3,000 other kids, I was expecting an expansive hall full of tables and chairs to accompany such large classes. But since there were only about 900 kids in the school, the cafeteria was a stuffy space that looked like it might have been a gym years ago.

I saw a hand bopping up and down waving hysterically towards me, and I grinned as I headed over to see my sister. To my surprise, Fang and Iggy followed me and slid on either side of me once I had sat down across from Ella.

"Hi Nudge," Iggy said with no hint that there were two people he hardly knew sitting with him.

"Hi boys," the girl, Nudge, said with a grin. Her skin was a deep caramel color and there was no other way to describe her hair but explosive. "You both look thrilled to be back at school. But, look! This is my new friend Ella, she moved here from Arizona with her mom and sister. She seems so much cooler than all of the other freshmen here who exclusively get gel manicures and skip around in their miniskirts all fall." Ella flushed slightly but seemed pleased nonetheless.

"Are you telling me that you don't get manicures, Nudge?" Iggy asked with a chuckle looking at her perfectly shaped and painted nails.

"Not the gel ones," she mumbled. "But, that's not the point! Who's this?"

"I'm Max," I extended my hand across the table and she shook it excitedly.

"Short for Maximum," this time it was Iggy who chimed in.

"You're obnoxious, you know that?" I told him.

Nudge gasped. "No way! You're Ella's sister? You must be so cool then, like by default."

"Debatable," Fang said, speaking up for the first time.

"Hey!" I elbowed him softly and he returned the favor with a light jab to the ribs. Nudge and Ella giggled and shared a smile. "They've been harassing me all day! They're my 'escorts' - whatever that means."

"Oooh," Nudge and Ella raised their eyebrows looking between the two of us. Ugh, as if.

"So," I began, eager to change the subject. "How do you all know each other?"

"We've been friends since we've been waddling around in diapers! Our parents met at play group, and we were the first kids that Fang actually played with. Apparently, he had refused to play with the other kids until we showed up. We were the only ones he didn't bite," she said smirking at Fang and I felt myself laughing again. I had somehow managed to meet a few genuine people here, but it seemed like they might be the only ones.

"Hi Fang," a high voice chirped. I spun around, but I was the only one. Fang grimaced, but neither he nor Iggy turned around and I watched Nudge suppress a groan.

"Hi Lissa," he muttered half-heartedly.

"So Fang," her voice hung on every syllable of his name. "Why don't you come sit with me and the girls? Then you wouldn't have to sit with them…"

"I'm sitting here. These are my friends," he told her. He had managed to kick one leg over the bench, so he was looking at her now with a pained expression in his face. I watched her nose crinkle as she looked at everyone. Her eyes hung over me, taking in my ratty Converse, ripped jeans and lack of makeup.

"Well, how about we hang out after school then?" her green eyes wide and triumphant. "We could walk through the park, grab coffee-" her voice trailed off, but she finished with a great smile batting her eyelashes magnificently. I think she was trying to go for the whole sexy look, but I thought she had rather overdone it. Her makeup was so dark, she looked like an oversized, over-eager raccoon.

"I uhh-" Fang stumbled, but I cut him off.

"He can't. He promised he would walk me home from school," I said, inventing wildly. "I'm new, so he was going to make sure I don't get lost." I saw her eyes narrow and then glance repeatedly between Fang and me. "Sorry," I said with a smile, sarcasm dripping.

She gave me one last condescending look, then turned and stalked away to a table full of girls as scantily-clad as she was.

"That was wicked, Max!" Iggy said with a grin. He reached out his fist and I bumped it feeling triumphant.

"Nice, Max!" Nudge's excited voice rang out. Ella grinned next to her. I had a feeling they were going to be inseparable soon. "Lissa never leaves us, well mostly Fang, alone. We can't stand her, but she's been crushing on him for ages."

"She clearly can't take a hint," I muttered darkly. Nudge and Iggy nodded emphatically.

"But, seriously Max, thanks. I think I've run out of excuses at this point. The worst thing about living in such a small town is that I see her everywhere - even over the summer." He grimaced.

"Look who runs the school now," I told him triumphantly.

Ella rolled her eyes. "Geez, Max give it a rest," but she had a smile on her face. Nudge and Iggy took me through a play-by-play of their childhood growing up together, their summers and all about their families. Nudge was an only child who was adopted, so she spent most of her time at Iggy's house with him and his 12-year-old brother Gazzy.

"Wait, his name is Gazzy?" I interrupted.

"Short for the Gasman," Iggy explained with a chuckle. "He's lactose intolerant but has a ridiculous passion for ice cream, and well I'm sure you can put two and two together. I wrinkled my nose. Gross. Why do all boys have the maturity level of a sixth grader?

The bell rang, and I grabbed my backpack heading off to my last few classes with a new spring to my step with Fang and Iggy trailing close behind me.


	2. Chapter 2

I waved to Ella as she walked off practically glowing. Nudge had invited her to the mall to go to shopping (yuck), and had promised to give her a tour of the quaint downtown. Like I said, they were already inseparable.

"Wait up," I heard a vaguely familiar voice call from behind me. I spun around as the footsteps grew louder. Fang had appeared as I made my way out. I turned to face him, and the confusion must have been clearly etched on my face. "I'm supposed to walk you home, remember?"

My mind was blank for a moment, but then I remembered I had told Lissa he was walking me home.

"I didn't realize you were going to cash in on that offer," I said with a smirk setting off down the sidewalk away from the schoolyard.

"You left me no choice. Well Lissa didn't anyway," he said darkly.

"Why don't you just tell her you're not interested?" He shrugged. "You shrug a lot. You know that don't you?" He shrugged again, this time with a smirk toying at the edges of his lips. "You're so annoying."

This time he laughed. I realized it was the first time he had laughed all day because it was such a pretty sound and contrasted sharply with his exterior. All black clothes, dark fringe that covered his even darker eyes. "You should laugh more," I told him and his eyes fixed on me curiously, and then he looked away again. "But, seriously. She clearly needs a more direct answer."

He groaned. "How much more direct can I get? I've made up excuses for the past year and a half."

"See, that's the problem. Just tell her you would rather light yourself on fire than spend any time with her."

Fang chuckled and gave me a lopsided grin. "I'm not a monster."

We kept walking, and Fang filled me in about more details about the town and his life growing up. He told me about his younger sister, Angel who was only seven, and his parents, Rick and Nancy. I explained about how we had lived in California for a few years while growing up, and had then moved to Arizona where I went to most of elementary school, middle school and freshman year. I decided to leave out the part about being expelled and triggering our need to move. I told him how my parents had gotten divorced when I was younger, and I had a half-brother named Ari living with my dad, Jeb, out east near Philadelphia.

By the time I had finished recounting the story of when I tried to sell Ella for candy because I didn't like not being the center of attention, I realized that we had approached my house. Unaware that it was my place, Fang had kept walking, but I turned down the stone path that led up to the front door.

I turned around, "Bye Fang! Thanks for showing me around today. I actually really appreciate it."

"See you, Max," he called giving me a half wave and then kept walking with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. I watched him for a moment, then turned to head inside.

"Hi Max," my mom called. It was nice now that she owned her own clinic because she had much more flexibility over her hours. She was able to go in early before we went to school, but she would be out by the time we were back from classes. "How was your first day?"

"Good," I called back. "Better than I thought, actually."

"Great. I'm really glad to hear that." She came into the kitchen where I was sitting with an open package of Chips Ahoy in front of me. "So," she paused to grin slyly at me. "Who was that boy you were walking with?"

"His name's Nick, but he goes by Fang," I smirked at my mom's raised eyebrows. "Supposedly he had a slight biting problem as a kid. But he seems cool. He and his friend showed me around a bit today. And, it turns out that he is really good friends with Nudge, the girl that Ella is already best friends with."

"He's cute," she said watching him turn the block and out of sight. I shrugged in response. I mean objectively, Fang was good looking with his tan skin, scruffy hair and especially his eyes. I had never seen eyes like his - so dark that they looked as though they would never end. "I'm sure you still miss Sam, though." I nodded, she could always tell what was going through my mind. She smiled at me sadly, "I do think you did the right thing. Who knows, you might even meet someone here."

I nodded again, dunking my cookie in a tall glass of milk. Nothing beat milk and cookies after a long day at school. She was right; I did miss Sam and his chestnut hair and piercing green eyes. He was the sweetest guy I knew, but our personalities had never clicked completely. I was always too stubborn, and he was always too nice letting people walk all over him. It really bugged me.

But, enough about boys. I leaned over and grabbed my backpack. Unfortunately, even though it was the first day of classes, I had work to, books to read and notes to take. I wasn't thrilled. I finished all my work right after dinner, so I decided to go run. I laced up my shoes, grabbed my headphones and headed out the door. One of my favorite parts of summer was that it stayed dark so long, and that meant that I could run later at night and earlier in the morning without being worried to be out alone. My mom refused to let me run once the sun began to set, something about "me being taken". It was total garbage if you asked me, I could take care of myself and I wasn't stupid.

I felt the familiar, reassuring pounding of my feet on pavement and my heart pounded with each footstep, hammering in my chest. I paused once I had reached the top of the hill; my hair had fallen out and running with loose hair was one of my biggest pet peeves. I quickly pulled it back into a long french braid and was about to take off again when I was interrupted.

"Hi," a boy who looked about my age said coming into my line of sight. He had sandy hair, bright blue eyes and the weathered look of someone who spent a lot of time outdoors. "You're Max, right?" I just stared at him, a little unnerved but also rattled by his striking good looks. I stuttered for a moment, but he cut me off. "I'm in your first period class. You didn't look familiar when you walked in, so I figured you must be new, and then Mr. Davis said you were. I'm Dylan," he held out his hand and I shook it briefly.

"Oh, hi," I said, still slightly out of breath. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," he said with a bright smile. "So, where did you move from?"

"Arizona," I said briefly and then gave him the brief version of my background. My mom, my sister blah, blah, blah. He nodded, seemingly hanging on my every word. I was torn. On one side, I was irritated that he had interrupted my run for this little meet and greet; there wasn't much sunlight left and I had wanted to get a hard run in tonight. But on the other hand, it was nice that he had gone out of his way to introduce himself. I generally wasn't the first to introduce myself, especially to cute boys. Oh my gosh. Forget I said that.

"Well," he said several minutes later after he had welcomed me again. "I'll let you get back to your run." I gave him a quick smile. "It was really nice to meet you, Max. I hope I see you around again. If you ever need anything or want a tour, give me a call."

"Thanks," I said with a what I hoped was a bright smile before turning and heading back out to my run. For some reason, I wished that I hadn't been wearing and old t-shirt and shorts with my beat up running shoes.

I headed back about an hour later, content with my eight-miler. After I had rinsed off and gotten everything ready for tomorrow, I hopped into bed and flipped open my laptop smiling at the background picture. It was a picture from over the summer when we had taken a day trip out to Sedona, and the beautiful rock walls were peeking through in the back of the photo. In the picture, Sam had his arm wrapped lazily around my shoulder, and my arms were wrapped around Sam and Ella. I had seen my old friends two weeks ago, but they seemed so distant despite their faces grinning back at me from the screen. I sighed before pulling up Netflix where I happily watched reruns of Friends laughing along with the taped over audience even though I had seen each episode about a half dozen times.

When I woke up, I was pleasantly surprised by the minimal dread that normally possessed me each morning. I threw on jeans, a white striped shirt and the Converse my mother loathed before heading downstairs. My mom had offered to drive us on her way to the office this morning, so I even had time for a quick bowl of cereal before ducking out the car door and waving to my mom before entering the school.

"See Max, this isn't so bad," Ella told me happily. She had thoroughly enjoyed her time yesterday with Nudge who had shown her the shopping mall, the best nail salon and her favorite brunch place.

I sighed. I hated admitting I was wrong. "As much as I hate to say it, you might be right."

"I am right," she responded heading down the hallway with her chin up and head tall. I rolled my eyes and then headed to my locker for the daily switch up of books I needed for the morning.

"Look who it is," called a dark-haired boy approaching my locker. "Surprised you made it all the way to your locker without getting lost this time."

"You're the worst," I said, shoving him into the oncoming stream of people hurrying to class. He jumped back, muttering apologies under his breath at all the people he bumped into.

His eyes narrowed, "You're the worst." I grinned cheekily at him and he shook his head as we walked to first period.

"Hi Max!" a bright and vaguely familiar voice said.

"Hi Dylan," I responded trying to sound as cheerful as he was. It clearly didn't work because I heard Fang choke back a laugh behind me.

"Do you want to sit my friends and me at lunch today?" Another smile. Geez, what was with this kid.

"Oh I um," I had no idea what to say. I felt Fang's eyes boring into the back of my neck, and could feel my face heating up. "I told Fang I would sit him today," I quickly lied on impulse. "Iggy said he had something important he wanted to talk about." Another lie. The smile fell from his face as quickly as it appeared there, "But, maybe another time." He nodded, flashed a quick smile but it was less vibrant that the previous two.

"What was that about?" Fang whispered staring at me as I slid into my seat.

"What?" I asked casually. "Dylan?" I asked again, lowering my voice. He nodded impatiently. I noticed his eyes narrow as he glared at Dylan while I grabbed my books out of my bag. "I ran into him last night. Literally, I was out jogging. He just introduced himself. It was nothing," I shrugged.

He turned to look back at me, but his expression was stony and his jaw was set. "What's the big deal?"

He just shook his head. "Nothing. He's just not my…" he paused, "favorite person here." He looked away. "You sure seem to run into people a lot," he said, his lopsided smirk returning to his face and his eyes looked less angry.

"Hey!" I countered, but I was glad for the change of subject. I surely didn't want to get mixed up in anything between Fang and Dylan. "You ran into me!"

"Did not," he whispered back.

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did-"

"Mr. Ride, Ms. Martinez. Would you care to join us?" We both stopped arguing and returned our attention to the front. "If you two are unable to focus, I may need to separate you. I have a lovely open seat right up here," Mr. Davis gestured at a vacant chair in the front row. No thanks. "Miss Martinez, I would be happy to seat you up here, so that Mr. Ride is not distracting you from your studies. I know how easily distracted the female mind is," he trailed off muttering something about his wife. I gaped at him. The female mind distracted? Seriously?

"Max, cool it," I felt a calloused hand grab mine which I hadn't noticed was moving frantically across my desk moments from being raised into the air to interject.

I glared over at Fang whose hand was still clamped around mine, "Seriously? The female mind?"

He let go of my hand and it fell limpy to my side. "I'm not agreeing with him," Fang quickly murmured, "but I am saying that it's not worth being sent in trouble for contradicting a teacher." Fang must have seen the anger still etched on my face because he continued, "Look, I know he's a jerk. Just try to get through this class without being stupid."

"I'm not being stupid," I said glaring at him. Fang just sighed, pulled out his notebook with a pen and began to take notes. I had finally calmed down by the time we had walked to biology with Iggy. Fang explained why I was still seething when I came out of the classroom to Iggy who just chuckled.

"Oh Max."

Fortunately, my mind was taken off the matters of sexist teachers when KVD began her lecture. For the second day in a row, I was enamored with everything that came out of her mouth. Besides the fascinating content, I liked her class because she encouraged conversation during class and she was young and interesting to listen to unlike my friend Mr. Davis the dull, monotonous moron. Today, she went over the syllabus for the class and began discussing our first unit: Behavioral Ecology.

Classes began to blend together as I went to philosophy and trigonometry before meeting everyone in the cafeteria. I was relieved that everyone seemed genuinely excited to see me as I sat down at the same lunch table as yesterday. There were a few more people sitting with us than yesterday, and I tried to smile as I looked over at them. No one seemed to be paying enough attention to introduce us, so I nudged Fang with my knee under the table.

"What-oh. This is Max," Fang said gesturing to me. "This is Spencer, Derek and Emily."

They all smiled and nodded, and Emily gave me a bright smile, "Iggy told us all about you when we were over at his house last night. We were told it was the first friend Fang has made since he met all of us way back in elementary school a million years ago." I was taken aback, but very pleased to know that Iggy and Fang had taken to me as much as I had taken to them. They definitely weren't bad options for my first friends at a new school.

"Did he?" I asked with a laugh. I looked over at Fang who was glaring at Iggy with so much annoyance that I was surprised he didn't just drop dead then and there.

"C'mon Fang, we're just teasing you," Emily said smirking looking back and forth between us. Why did everyone just assume that the only reason I was friends with Fang because he was male? Stupid. Fang rolled his eyes, but returned to his normal demeanor.

Nudge, Ella and Emily immediately began discussing their plans for the weekend while the Iggy, Spencer and Derek were heatedly arguing about whatever game had been on last night. I think it was football.

"So," Fang turned towards me. "I see you chose to eat lunch with us again and not with that airhead over there." His eyes flickered to where Dylan was sitting with a group of big guys. They all had a similar outdoorsy look to them, and I wondered if they were part of a hiking or cycling team.

I shrugged. When I met his gaze, his eyes were difficult to read. His eyes were so dark, it was hard not to get lost in them because it felt like they went on forever. Iggy cleared his throat pointedly and I jumped where I was sitting, and Fang coughed then turned towards everyone else.

"We were just wondering if either of you two wanted to hang out this weekend. We were thinking a bonfire at my house," Iggy said staring between us again. What was with him?

"No, absolutely not," Fang started. "Last time we had a bonfire at your house, you almost burnt the whole place to the ground."

Derek and Spencer chuckled. "I'm with Fang," Derek said. "Besides, Iggy and Gazzy are a deadly combination when fire is involved. My parents are going out to dinner Friday night though, we could do it at my house."

"Ok, ok," Iggy said laughing lightheartedly. "I give." I had officially been invited to my first social event for the year, but I tried not to let the smug smile tugging at my mouth be visible. I had Fang in all of my afternoon classes except one and Iggy in the other, so at least there were some perks to a small school.

"Come on shortie," Fang called to me from where he was waiting at the end of the cafeteria. I glared at him as he smirked, clearly amused by himself. "We're gonna be late for gym." Yes, unfortunate as it was, I was still stuck going to gym for 50 minutes everyday. As if I didn't get enough exercise on my own. I scowled as I headed into the girl's changing room and through on the shapeless gold shirt and navy shorts that were my heinous gym uniform.

Decked out in navy and gold, I headed into the gym to wait for the rest of the classes and teachers.

Fang stalked out of his locker room looking very strange in his colorful shirt. I cringed, "Missing your black?" He glared at me sourly with a nod.

"Yellow is not my color."

"I don't think yellow is anyone's color," I said with a sigh. "Besides, it always shows sweat."

"Planning on sweating today?" he asked me.

"Depends on what we're doing," I said. Hopefully not something stupid. If I was going to sweat, I wanted it to at least be worth it. But it was the end of the day, so we were free after this period was over.

I was about to ask him a question, when I was cut off by the booming voice of a large man who had come bounding around the corner. "Okay! Today is, wait for it," he gave a dramatic pause during which several people rolled their eyes, "fitness testing day! I'm sure everyone has been anxiously awaiting this day since last September," everyone groaned. "So, we will start with the pacer test. For anyone who doesn't know, the pacer is a test designed to test your endurance." We didn't have gym class at my old school, so I was intrigued. "You will run from the white line there across the gym to the black line over there. The key is to make it across the line before the buzzer, and the time between beeps will decrease as the test continues. Thrilling, I know."

Everyone groaned as they dragged their feet to the opposite side of the gym and waited for the first beep. An automated voice came on over the speaker, "The FitnessGram™ Pacer Test is a multistage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues. The 20 meter pacer test will begin in 30 seconds. Line up at the start. The running speed starts slowly, but gets faster each minute after you hear this signal. [beep] A single lap should be completed each time you hear this sound. [ding] Remember to run in a straight line, and run as long as possible. The second time you fail to complete a lap before the sound, your test is over. The test will begin on the word start. On your mark, get ready, start."

Everyone jogged slowly to the other side of the gym with time to spare. The dings continued, and everyone jogged in sync. By the time we had reached level 13, most of the girls had dropped out, but I hadn't even broken a sweat yet. Level 13 was technically passing, but I wasn't someone to quit early.

By level 30, most people had dropped out besides a girl with crazy long, muscular legs who looked like she was on the basketball team, a group of guys who were muttering about their soccer practice later, Fang and me. At level 30, we had technically ran 135 "laps", and three of the soccer boys dropped out leaving two of them, basketball girl and Fang next to me.

"How ya feeling Maxie?" Fang asked me with a sideways glance. I could hear the smirk in his voice even if I couldn't see it.

"Never better, Fangles," I responded and he glared at me. I glared back at him. The beeps were just distant noises in the background that I ignored as I continued running. This was nothing. By 165 laps, basketball girl had dropped out along with one soccer boy, so only three of us were left. "This is just my warmup," I said with a devilish grin and picked up my pace, crossing earlier than expected.

"Oh yeah?" he asked. I was surprised to hear that his breathing wasn't heavy either. We had only run about two miles by my guess, but each 20m interval was nearly at a sprinting pace now. "I could do this in my sleep," he said powering past me.

We were at lap 190 and were the only two people still running. I didn't know why I was still running; everyone was staring at us and waiting for us to finish, but for some reason I couldn't let Fang beat me. Besides, I wasn't even tired yet. I'm Maximum Martinez, I do what I want.

"Okay, you two," Mr. Jovell, our gym teacher, said coming back into sight with his clipboard. The recording had counted to 215 laps and then shut off. But neither of us stopped running. Fang looked at me for a second and instantly we were both spring towards the line. My arms pumping rapidly next to my strides, but I felt Fang's long legs rush past me and he hit the mat against the wall just a second before I did.

"I win," he said with the trace of a smile on his face.

"No fair," I complained. "You totally had a head start."

He smirked. He knew it. "You knew what I was gonna do, just as I started anyway."

"That doesn't count!" I exclaimed. "I was reading your body language, not sprinting away."

Fang chuckled as we walked over to Mr. Jovell surprising me. "Very well, Mr. Ride. Full marks as per usual. And who's your friend?"

"This-" he started.

"I'm Max," I said interrupting Fang. "Martinez."

"Very impressive, are you runner?"

I shrugged, "I like to run."

"Well you should consider joining our cross country team. It's coed because the school is so small, but I'm sure they would love to have you try out," he said giving me a reassuring smile. "Nice to have you here," he muttered with a chuckle as he walked away. It always struck me as ironic that gym teachers tended to be the ones that weren't in great shape themselves, but were yelling at others to run faster and participate more.

Ugh. Yellow really did show sweat. I shoved my uniform back in my gym locker and made a mental note to bring it home Friday for a good wash.

"You're faster than I expected," Fang said as he headed out the school doors together after gym. Ella and Nudge were staying for the first meeting of Fashion Club, whatever that was, so Fang and I were walking home together again. Iggy lived far, so his mom picked him up and Emily, Derek and Spencer all rode the bus. Thank God I didn't have to deal with that nightmare. I rode the bus in middle school and it was a traumatizing experience between all the shouting, singing and shoving to get the best seat in the back to feel all the bumps.

I grinned. I was tempted to race him home, but didn't want to lose. I was wearing skinny jeans, converse and a heavy backpack and I wasn't exactly the most graceful loser. "I challenge you to a rematch."

He raised his eyebrows. "Alright, but just remember this was your idea. We can go to one of the open fields next week, if you really think you want to race me again."

"You're on Ride." 

"Bring it Martinez."

We shook on it. We talked a bit about classes, school and mindless other things as we finished the walk home.

"See you bright and early!" Fang called after me as I turned towards my house.

I gave him a quick wave before turning inside.

"So, was that Fang again?" my mom asked waiting to greet me at the front door. More like spying, but whatever.

I nodded but didn't say anything. I didn't want her getting any more ideas than she already had. Thankfully, my mom knew me well enough not to say anything else. "Ella said you two were invited to a bonfire this weekend. That sounds very nice. Who's going to be there?"

"Yeah, I think it'll be a lot of fun. Turns out her new friend is super close with my two friends, so we'll all be one big group I suppose. But it'll be Ella, Nudge, Emily, Spencer, Derek, Iggy, Fang and me."

"Well, I'm just glad you two have found a group of friends so quickly," she kissed the top of my head before leaving the room

Yeah, I thought, me too.

 **Thanks to everyone who's started by new story Unexpected. Read, review and let me know all suggestions and criticisms – I'm open to everything!**


	3. Chapter 3

The fire crackled in front of us and I leaned back in my chair enjoying the crisp breeze. It had only been a week since I had started at Harding, but I was surprised that I was already becoming adjusted. Fang had walked home with me after school each day and I met him in the courtyard in front of the building before class each morning, so we could walk into government exactly as the bell would ring. Mr. Davis couldn't hold anything against us, but it gave me great pleasure to see his blood pressure rise when we strode in not a second late. Fang and I wound up spending a large amount of time together between our walks home and having nearly every class together, so much so that we were beginning to become quite close despite our arguments that broke out nearly everyday.

"Max," someone called. I realized they had said my name a couple of times, and I was startled.

"Sorry what?"

"Enjoying yourself are we?" Derek asked with a grin.

"Very much," I answered with a cheeky smile.

Iggy rolled his eyes, "We were asking if you know how to ski."

Ski? I mean I had been skiing once or twice before when I was little, but spending most of my life in SoCal and Arizona, there wasn't exactly tons of snow for me to practice.

I nodded, "I can ski. I love to ski."

Ella snorted from across the fire. Busted. I forgot she was here. I had a feeling this would become, incredibly annoying if Ella and I took to hanging out together most of the time. "Yeah, right. You've been skiing like twice, Max."

"So," I countered. "Who says I wasn't good those two times?"

"Me!" Ella exclaimed laughing. "I watched you fall getting off the chairlift, and then refuse to ski for the rest of the day."

Everyone around me laughed as I scowled. "You don't have to be the best at everything, Max," Iggy said.

"Okay, so maybe skiing isn't my best skill."

"I'll teach you," Fang said quickly turning to me from his chair just next to mine. I gave him a skeptical look. "Honest, I'll teach you this winter. I've been on skis since I could walk."

Everyone around him nodded. "I would take that offer," Derek said whose face I could only see when the fire flared. "Otherwise I'll be stuck teaching you and I promise you won't want that."

I smiled, "That would be great. When can we go?"

Fang snickered, "We've got to wait until there's snow, Max."

I rolled my eyes, "No shit, Sherlock. Thanksgiving?"

"It depends on the year," Spencer said speaking up for the first time. He was quiet, incredibly smart and generally kept to himself whenever I was around them. "Last year, we already had about 34 inches of snow at Thanksgiving which is a pretty decent base for that time of year. I mean, only about 18% of the seasonal snowfall occurs before Christmas with the vast majority in late February and March. So, technically speaking, the best time to go would be early March because you have the highest snowfall paired with the warmest temperature. It makes for some pretty soft snow."

My eyes widened, how could he possibly know all of that? And just rattle it off from memory? No on else seemed even slightly surprised by his sudden outburst of information.

Derek nodded, "You got it, nerd." Spencer flushed, but Derek punched him on the shoulder with a grin. "Spring skiing is the best. Just wait until spring break, you guys will love it," Derek said addressing Ella and me. I grinned. Despite my traumatizing experience last time I skied and my dislike of being cold, I was looking forward to learning to ski.

We all chatted sitting around the fire, and Derek went inside and brought out a box of graham crackers, two packs of marshmallows and a sheath of chocolate. S'mores were my favorite.

Everyone crowded around the fire roasting their marshmallows until they were perfectly golden brown on each side. Everyone except Fang that is. He refused to remove his marshmallow from the flames until it was entirely black. Only then would he proceed to build his s'more.

"You know you're making your them wrong," I told him.

"Oh yeah?"

I nodded and showed him my perfect specimen. "Golden brown. This is A+ work right here."

"Sure, it looks more appetizing, but it's not soft and melted all the way through," he explained. "Watch." He then pulled his charcoal marshmallow out of the flames and broke it in half, demonstrating how it was entirely melted through the center.

"Wanna know how to tell if it's really ready?" he asked with a gleam in his eyes. I turned to him expectantly. "Like this," he said and he shoved his perfectly melted marshmallow up my nose.

My jaw had dropped forming a perfect O. Luckily, I still had two golden marshmallows in my hand. I took one in each hand and pressed them both against Fang's cheeks, leaving a trail of white sticky residue down to his chin.

"Food fight! Food fight!" I heard Iggy chant in the background. I looked up to see that Fang was laughing again and his eyes were light and happy. Everyone was laughing around us, including us.

"Come on," I grabbed Fang's hand lightly and led him towards the house, so we could get cleaned up. I found the bathroom, and dampened two paper towels and handed one to Fang. "This time it's totally your fault," I told him with a smirk.

He shrugged. There he was, back with the shrugging. I wiped at the sticky mess on my face with the towel, peeling off the remaining marshmallow with your fingers. It was taking Fang even longer because even though my marshmallows weren't as gooey, he had to do both sides of his face. Oops.

I grinned at him as he finally pulled the last of the mess off his face. He smiled back at me. So many smiles tonight too. Man, what was with him?

"Thanks for giving me the tour of the school," I told him. I was trying to tell him how much I appreciated him bringing me into his little friend group and getting to know me, but feelings isn't exactly something I do well.

"Thanks for letting me escort you. And thanks for letting me walk you home," he added with a lopsided smile.

"I'm glad we're friends, Fang."

"Me too, Max, me too."

We headed back outside to discover that the fire had died down while we were inside, and the embers glowed in the bottom of the firepit looking solemn yet dangerous.

"Mom's on the way," Ella called. "Do you want a ride Fang?" He nodded and followed us out to the curb where my mom's van pulled up, and we all hopped in.

"Mom, this is Fang. He lives around the corner, so I said you could drop him off."

"Sure," my mom smiled at Fang in the rearview mirror. "Nice to meet you, Fang."

"Nice to meet you too, Ms. Martinez. How's the new clinic?"

"Good!" my mom exclaimed before continuing to jabber on about how friendly her new coworkers were, the cute dogs that came in today and how she even had to look at someone's pet iguana. If you can even call an iguana a pet. By the time she stopped talking, Fang had directed her to his house which was quaint and perched on the edge of a cliff that dropped off pretty sharply.

"Bye Ella, see you Max," he said tapping my shoulder with his hand as he hopped out. "Thanks for the ride." He hurried down his driveway, the moonlight reflecting his dark silhouette against the shadows.

"He seems nice," my mom said once we had gotten home.

"He is," Ella and I said in unison. I flashed her a grin.

"You should see him and Max together, mom," Ella continued. "It's like they're the same person. They're both competitive, stubborn, argumentative-"

"Those all sound like negative qualities," I cut in.

Ella ignored my interruption, "and they get along so well. It's a little spooky actually."

"Spooky?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

She nodded. "You've known each other for less than a week and you've already spent more time with him than me." 

"Not my fault we have most of our classes together. Besides, you and Nudge have been inseparable since we've arrived." Ella grinned.

I had just gotten into bed when I heard my phone buzz. It was a text from Fang. He wanted to know if I wanted to go over to his house for movies and games with Iggy, Iggy's brother, and Fang's little sister. I had been dying to meet her ever since he started telling me stories about her, and it was heartwarming to see how much Fang swooned over his baby sister even when she wasn't there. I replied that I would definitely be there.

Incredibly content, I drifted off into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

The next day, I finished unpacking the rest of the basement and living room, ran a few errands with my mom and roamed around the house bored.

7pm finally rolled around, so I headed over to Fang's. As soon as I rang the doorbell, the door whipped open and a blonde-haired blur barreled into me. I looked down and who I assumed was Fang's little sister was hugging my waist with blonde curls framing her bright blue eyes.

"Hi," I said with a grin squatting down to her height. "You must be Angel." She gave me a big toothless grin and nodded. "I'm Max."

"You're pretty!" she exclaimed her face shining. I chuckled, but felt my face flush slightly. "Fang, your friend is pretty." She padded over to where he was coming down the stairs and gave him another hug, and I couldn't help smiling as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "He never has girls over," Angel informed me. She paused, "Just Iggy. And sometimes Derek. But not girls."

"Oh really?" he asked her his eyebrows raised. "What about Nudge?"

"She doesn't really count," she said thoughtfully. Funny how seven-year-old logic works. "We've been friends with her forever. She's more of a sister."

"Iggy and Gazzy aren't here yet," Fang said turning towards me. He got Angel a snack and then led me upstairs to his bedroom.

"Woah," I murmured as we entered his room. It was sick. The far wall of his room was all windows that faced towards the mountains and because their house was up on a cliff, it looked over a river that snaked its way down the mountainside. The wall opposite was exposed brick giving the room a very rustic feel and wooden beams ran across the ceiling. The wall was covered in trail maps for skiing, biking and hiking with a few interspersed pictures of the mountains or fresh powder on his skis.

"Impressed?" he asked with a smirk and I nodded, my eyes wide. The rest of the room was pretty bare besides his bed, dressers and large desk in the corner facing the view. There were a few framed pictures of Fang and Angel on his bedside table and desk and I smiled. "What?"

"These pictures are sweet," I said picking up another picture of him and Angel. She was on Fang's back with both her arms wrapped around his neck.

"People are always surprised we're siblings."

"They must be surprised that someone so cheerful and sweet is related to you. I'm kidding!" I added when he looked slightly hurt. "It's because she's blonde, has such blue eyes and is adorable and you're all black everything."

"It's not my fault black is the only thing that matches black when I get ready in the morning."

I rolled my eyes as I walked over to his dresser in the corner where there was a pile of medals. "What are all these from?" I picked one up, examining the heavy metal circle. They were all engraved with _1_ _st_ _Place_ or _2_ _nd_ _Place_ with someone skiing down a mountain.

"I used to do a lot of ski racing," he must have seen the clear confusion because he continued. We didn't exactly have ski races or a ski team in Arizona. "I did slalom skiing which is where you ski down the mountain and race while turning through gates." Ohhh. I nodded. I had seen them do that in the Winter Olympics. "And I also did mogul racing. But I preferred slalom."

He must have been an incredible skier. There were at least a dozen medals on the desk and a bin on the ground was overflowing with the colored ribbons. "Why?"

"There's nothing like the feeling of skis riding the ice, carving into the curves around the gates. It's exactly what I imagine flying would be like. Smooth. Effortless. Carefree." It sounded like how I felt about running. Feet pounding on the pavement. Wind whipping through your hair.

I glanced over at the bookshelf near his bed. Books were stacked on top of each other on the shelves, bookmarks sticking out haphazardly. There was a decent amount of the classics: _Sherlock Holmes_ , _the Great Gatsby, the Catcher in the Rye, 1984._ The list went on and on. He also had the full set of _Harry Potter_ books lined up in order each looking incredibly worn and well-red. Those were my favorite types of books – the ones where the spine was already bent to your favorite page and the cover was bent showing the signs of a good read. I noticed he also had a fair amount of non-fiction books most of them detailing historical events and a few that were on famous murders and how detectives solved them.

"I hadn't pegged you as a reader," I told him still scanning the titles.

He shrugged. "Always have been. It's a nice way to escape when I'm not on the mountain."

The doorbell rang, and we headed downstairs to greet Iggy who introduced me to his brother Gazzy.

"Hi Max" he chirped. "I only had two ice cream sundaes today." His face twisted into a mischievous smile that looked so much like Iggy highlighting their matching blonde hair and pale blue eyes that had a touch of gray.

Iggy and Fang groaned. "So, what are we watching?" I asked as he headed downstairs.

"Gazzy picked Star Wars: A New Hope. He vetoed Angel's suggestion of Moana for the fifth time this week," Iggy said as he headed into the basement. Iggy, Gazzy and Angel instantly threw themselves into the matching leather recliners facing the TV leaving the small couch for Fang and me.

"I've actually never seen Star Wars before," I said casually, leaning back onto Fang's legs that were bent on the couch.

"What?" he and Iggy exclaimed in unison both gaping at me. "How?"

"I never went and saw it when I was little and it's not like Ella was ever into it," I said. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal!" Fang spluttered.

"It's the best movie franchise in history!" Iggy added his mouth still hanging open.

"You're telling me that Star Wars is better than-"

"Yes!" Fang and Iggy said interrupting me before I had even finished my sentence.

"Fine," I huffed. "I'll do my best to enjoy it. We can discuss after." I leaned back against Fang's legs which were surprisingly comfortable and less bony than I was expecting. I felt his eyes boring into the back of my head as the words began floating across the sky, and I turned around. "You can't watch me watch it the whole time! That's too much pressure. Just watch your movie."

"Okay, okay," he muttered settling himself back against the couch. Once the movie began, I was quickly intrigued, but immediately also had about a million questions. I opened my mouth to ask why Darth Vader wanted to sabotage the Leia's starship in the first place, but Fang kneed me in the back. "Just watch," he hissed. His eyes were glued to the screen, and I tried to get comfortable again and focus. It was clearly important to him and Iggy that I liked this movie or at least tried to watch it.

Exactly two hours and five minutes later, the credits began to roll, and as if on cue, the lights in Fang's basement turned on. At first I was rattled, but then I realized that it was just Fang's parents coming down to bring Angel up to bed.

"Hi," Fang's mom said coming over with a radiant smile. She had Angel's blonde curls, but her eyes were dark and mysterious, an exact replica of Fang's. "You must be Max."

I nodded, "It's so nice to meet you." I got up and went to shake his mom's hand and then his dad's who was standing behind her. His features were dark and chiseled and would have been a mirror image of an adult Fang if it weren't for his piercing blue eyes and big belly.

"We've heard so much about you," his mom continued, and I smirked at Fang who just rolled his eyes. "How have you been liking Centennial so far?"

"It's been good. Everyone is so nice. Fang took the liberty to show me around on the first day, so I wouldn't get lost," I told her. She smiled warmly. Fang must take after his father; his mom smiled every other word. It was a little startling to see the familiar obsidian eyes sparkling so much.

"Aww. Well I'm just glad Fang has finally made another friend. It's been about 11 years."

Iggy gasped dramatically, "Am I not good enough for you any more, Mrs. Ride? I see how it is."

She chuckled and shook her head and I instantly saw the resemblance between her and her son. "You're as good as a second son, Iggy. I'm just surprised to see Fang branching out at this point in his life. And happy," she added ruffling his hair as she picked up a sleeping Angel. Iggy had left too because he had to bring Gazzy home at a reasonable hour.

"So," Fang asked pointedly once his parents had gone back upstairs. "What did you think?"

"I liked it," I said. I truly did.

"Yeah?" he asked, his eyes wide. "Favorite part?"

Hmmm. "I liked when they battled the Death Star."

"Interesting."

"Okay, but I have a question. I don't get the bear guy." Fang looked at me with his eyebrows raised. "How do they understand him? He just grunts and growls at them and then they're all like 'Of course, Bear-Man! Why didn't we think of that?' Because he definitely has a fully functioning brain that is comparable to a human's."

"Okay, first of all, his name is Chewbacca," Fang said watching me with a strange look on his face. "Second of all, I think you're over thinking the whole part about him being smart and capable of communicating."

"But he's just some wild animal!" I insisted.

"He's not an animal!" He protested. "He's a wookie warrior. And co-pilot."

"Okay fine, maybe I can get over the whole Chewbacca thing. Other than that, I really did like it."

"Good," he said with an air of finality in his voice. "You'll have to come over again and we can finish them."

"I'm confused. How many are there? They keep making new ones, but they're not all in chronological order."

"Technically, there's ten movies. The one we just watched was filmed first and began the original trilogy. Then, they made three more which are technically prequels. But now, I kind of lost track. I don't like to watch the new ones because I don't want them to ruin it for me. It was a huge part of my childhood."

"Well it sounds like we have five movies to finish then."

He nodded emphatically. "Want me to put the next one in?"

I checked my watch. It was already 10:30. It wouldn't end until nearly 12:45 and I figured my mom wouldn't be thrilled. I shook my head, "I should probably head back soon. But soon?"

"Soon," he promised.

"We can have a full-fledged movie marathon. Lots of snacks, lots of blankets, and we can just watch them all night."

"Deal."

I laughed as I remembered the last deal I had made him. "You still owe me a race after that blatant cheating I witnessed in class last week."

He shook his head smiling and his black fringe fell over his eyes. "You just like to lose, don't you Max?"

"I'm not so sure about that. Beat by a girl. That won't sound so good to your loyal admirers now will it?"

"You know on second thought, maybe I let you win," he said softly chuckling.

"We'll see about that."

"Come on," he said leading the way upstairs. "I'll get my mom to drop you off."

"No Fang, it's totally fine. I can walk."

He shook his head. "No way. It's dark out. No sun, no walking."

"Who are you, my dad?" I asked glaring at him. "It's literally right around the corner."

"Which is why my mom won't mind driving you." He was so stubborn, and it was irritating me. I realized that the only other person I knew who was consistently that stubborn was me.

"Fang."

"Max," he responded. "Just do it. Please."

I huffed. "Fine." My life would be so much easier when I had my license, and I only had to wait six short months.

"Thank you so much for driving me, Mrs. Ride," I told her as she pulled into my driveway.

"Not a problem at all. It just gets so dark out here with no street lights; it's really not worth walking even though you're just around the corner," she said reading my mind. "Also, tell your mom I said hi. I would love to meet her. I've heard great things from our neighbor who brought her dog into your mom's clinic."

I grinned, told her I would inform my mom and then waved to Fang before heading down the driveway into the garage. This week had turned out so different than what I had been expecting of my first days at Harding and in Centennial.

 **Here's a little insight into Fang's character. Please keep reading and I love hearing feedback from all my readers! I'm always interested in what you think, what I can improve and staying to true to the story.**


	4. Chapter 4

The leaves had slowly begun to turn from vibrant green to golden orange and I was mesmerized every time I so much as looked out a window because I had never experienced fall before. I had spent a lot of time in Fang's room staring out his huge windows at the sea of gold that extended far into the mountains. It had been nearly four weeks since the first week of school, and September was slowly coming to a close.

The school hosted a homecoming dance every year, and this year it was taking place on the 17th of October with the football game and pep rally the night before. I had adamantly refused any sort of social situation in which I was forced into a dress, and Fang despised the vast majority of girls at Harding, so the two of us had made a pact to spend the day doing pretty much anything else. However, Ella and Nudge were both ecstatic about the dance as both of them were pretty, so they had been asked to go with two guys in their year. Unfortunately, I was being dragged to the mall with the two of them to aid in the dress shopping process because apparently my non-existent fashion sense was "absolutely necessary" in finding the perfect dress. According to them at least.

So, that explained why I was roaming the mall on a beautiful Friday afternoon when I could have been running. I had found a really cool path that wound around the outskirts of town and finished near the giant meadow that Fang had challenged me to race him, and I was dying to go back and run through the trees and watch the birds coast across the sky. But, no. I was inside a dingy mall. Ella grabbed my hand and dragged me into a giant Von Maur where there was a whole section dedicated to homecoming dresses. I groaned. Almost all of the dresses were either short, tight, covered in sequence or had large chunks of the dress missing. Nudge chastised me for not knowing that cut-outs were very in this year.

They each grabbed a handful of dresses then hurried into the fitting room and I found a comfortable chair adorned with velvet near the entrance where they could come show me. Nudge came out in a frilly fuschia dress that I immediately vetoed and did the same for Ella's turquoise skin-tight number. They had gone back in to change again when a perfectly groomed blonde head appeared.

"Hi Max!" Dylan said plopping into the chair next to me.

"Hey Dylan." For some reason, Fang was not Dylan's biggest fan and I always noticed Fang's eyes reduced to slits when Dylan would wave to me at lunch or greet me in government. I had never taken up Dylan's offer to sit with him at lunch, much to Fang's likeness, but I always wondered what the big deal was. He seemed like a nice guy and all the girls completely swooned after him.

"What are you doing here? I didn't peg you as the type to shop at Von Maur," he said with a bright grin. Man, he smiled a lot and he had such a pretty smile – it made his eyes twinkle and face light up. Between all the laughs and fair complexion, he was Fang's polar opposite.

"My sister is here with Nudge," I explained. "They're shopping for homecoming dresses and I have the unfortunate job of vetoing each one they come out in. It hasn't been pretty so far."

He laughed, but then his face grew slightly more serious. "I was actually hoping to bump into you somewhere. I was wondering, well hoping, if you would want to go to homecoming with me?" He looked at me, his eyes searching. "As my date," he added.

"Oh," I stumbled. I definitely was not expecting that. "I already have plans to spend the day with Fang." Something flashed in his eyes, and I slowly realized it was hurt. "I'm really sorry, Dylan. It's just that I promised Fang, and well dances aren't really my thing," I added. I did feel bad.

He looked slightly cheered up, and I tried to give him a reassuring smile. "Okay, well I'll see you around, Max. Maybe we can grab coffee or see a movie or something."

"Who was that?" Nudge asked with interest as she emerged in a heinous purple dress that was covered entirely in sequence.

"His name's Dylan. He's in my government class. Also, that dress is hideous."

She looked down and frowned. "What did he want?"

"Oh, nothing. He had just stopped to say hi." I don't know why I didn't tell her the truth, probably because she would make me track him down and tell him I would go.

"Max?" she asked turning her huge brown eyes on me.

I quickly looked at the ground and feigned tying my shoe. I couldn't resist telling the truth when she turned those eyes on me. "Honest, it was nothing."

She nodded, then hurried back to change into her final dress. Ella emerged again and for the first time I didn't immediately veto her outfit. The top half of the dress was white with thick straps and turned to dark mesh for an inch or two baring her midriff and then fell just above her knees in a simple black A-line.

"Ella," I breathed. The dress suited her perfectly. It was simple, but flattering and highlighted her tan skin and long dark hair. "It's perfect."

"I know!" she gushed. "I was going to get it even if you didn't like it." She stuck out her tongue at me.

"So why am I here then?"

"Sisterly bonding, duh." She headed back into the dressing room and I heard Nudge's squeals as they both admired the dress. I heard them discussing how perfect it would look with her hair half up and half down and gold eyeshadow with green undertones. Whatever that meant.

Nudge still hadn't found "the dress" yet because apparently freshman year homecoming is just as important as your wedding day, so I was dragged to yet another dress store. This one was a small boutique that was so full of dresses, that I graciously agreed to wait outside, and they would text me when they wanted my final opinion. I meandered around the mall waiting for something to catch my interest when I noticed a small shop tucked in the corner with the walls covered floor to ceiling in books.

I started browsing the classics section when someone behind me asked, "Are you finding everything alright – Oh, hey Max."

I spun around, "Hi Spencer! I didn't know you worked here."

He nodded. "I've been working here since the summer before freshman year. I mean, you know how much I like to read."

I grinned. He put Fang's bookshelf to shame with the number of books he owned. He was a sophomore, but had already passed out of all the high school English reading classes and calculus, so he was taking second year classes at a nearby college. He was an actual human genius. "Seems like a perfect fit."

He nodded emphatically. "Have you read this?" He pulled a copy of Catcher in the Rye down from the shelf in front of me. I shook my head, but recognized the cover from Fang's bookshelf.

"I haven't, but it's one of Fang's favorites," I said.

Spencer nodded, pushing a few strands of light brown hair back behind his ears. "He's read it a dozen times I bet." I'm sure Spencer had read it at least 20 times. His face lit up, "I have something you would like." He hurried over to a stack of books in the opposite corner of the room next to two hefty leather chairs that I could imagine sinking into and never leaving. I followed him, slightly skeptical. I wasn't much of a reader, but Fang had promised to loan me any of his books on the simple grounds that I read them.

He pulled down a large book, and leafed through it until he found the page he wanted. "It's Shawshank Redemption," he told me eagerly. "Go on," he handed me the book and I read the first few pages, and was instantly intrigued. His smile grew as he watched my eyes continue to scan across the page. "It's an incredibly story written by Stephen King, and was made into a movie with Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins back in 1994. The movie is ranked as one of the best of all time only after the Godfather, but the book is even better." He began a detailed description of the plot in which he explained how Andy Dufresne was framed for a murder he didn't commit and found himself be sentenced to life in Shawshank Prison with dozens of hardened criminals. But, Andy, who was a brilliant accountant, had found himself a group of friends in jail and began to adjust slowly to life inside the prison. He refused to tell me anymore determined not to leak any secrets of the book.

"But," he added, "it has one of the best lines of all time. 'You can get busy living or get busy dying.'"

I pulled out my wallet ready to pay, but Spencer shook his head. "I'll be right back." He disappeared into the backroom for a few minutes, and I could hear him rummaging through more stacks of books. A few minutes later, he returned carrying a weathered, tattered copy of the same book I was holding. "You can borrow my personal copy. It has the original cover." He pointed to the front which had the title _Different Seasons_ which contrasted with the picture of Tim Robbins holding up his arms to the heavens with an enlarged portrait of Morgan Freeman behind him, almost God-like.

"Thanks!" I stared at the book. "Look, I've got to go. I promised Ella and Nudge I would help them decide on homecoming dresses."

"You're not going either?" He asked, and I shook my head. "I'm spending the day with my brother who will be home from college for Fall Break, so I'm really looking forward to not being shoved in a crowded gym and listening to bad music again."

I started to go when he asked another question, "I saw you talking to Dylan." Okay it was more of a statement than a question. I just nodded. "Did he ask you to the dance?"

My jaw dropped. "How did you know that?"

"And you said no?" He asked again, ignoring my question. I nodded again in response a little rattled. "Because you're spending the day with Fang instead?" He laughed at my startled expression. "I saw him go into Von Maur looking for someone when I was coming back from my break, and I could see someone that I assumed was you. He stormed out looking irritated." He shrugged. "Just some basic body language and common sense. Besides, it's common knowledge that he and Fang aren't the best of friends."

"That's spooky stuff, Spence. You could be one of those FBI profilers. Nudge and Ella didn't even know, and they were just inside the dressing room." He just gave me a sheepish shrug.

I grinned. "Well, thanks again for the book, I'm really excited to read it." I chucked. "Wow, I never thought I would say that."

He laughed and waved as I hurried to go relieve Ella and Nudge's dress efforts. Twenty minutes later, Nudge had decided on a royal blue dress that was fitted, but not overly tight. It was sparkly, but not overbearing – overall, perfect for Nudge.

As soon as we got home, I pulled out the book Spencer had given me, curled up in the window seat in my bedroom and began reading. It was the first time I had ever wanted to spend more time than necessary, and I quickly fell in love with the characters. Ella peaked in twice to discuss jewelry and shoes for her dress, but I ignored her enamored with the thickening plot. I was nearly halfway done by the time dinner was ready.

"So, Max," my mom said with a gentle smile. "You're reading?"

I nodded, "Spencer gave me _Shawshank Redemption_ by Stephen King when I saw him at the mall with Ella and Nudge. It's about Andy Dufresne who is framed for murder when he is sentenced to Shawshank Prison."

My mom nodded, "That movie is incredible. It came out in 1994, and your father and I went to see it in theaters when we both lived in New York before we were married. You should watch in when you finish the book."

"Spencer refuses to watch all movie renditions of books on the premise that it will alter the way he sees the characters in his head. He's probably read this book a dozen times."

My mom chuckled, "Well I'm sure you'll be able to find someone else to watch it with you. Is Fang coming over tonight?"

"Probably," Ella said from across the table. I glared at her, but quickly realized she was right. I was either at Fang's house or he was here almost everyday to work on homework, watch movies or just hang out. We had finally gotten through all the Star Wars original trilogy movies, so we had to embark upon something else now. "Speaking of tonight," Ella said. "I'm going to Nudge's before the football game and we're going over together. We told Liam and Jason that we would go to the game with them."

"Geez, you're practically glowing." I shielded my eyes as if she was too bright to look at, and Ella just rolled her eyes, ignoring me as per usual.

"You should go, Max," my mom chided. "It'll be fun. You need to step out of your comfort zone a little; you're not going to the dance, but you should at least show some school spirit."

"Fine," I sighed. "But I'm not staying for the full game."

Ella squealed, then rushed off to get ready.

After about twenty minutes, I finally convinced Fang to go to the game because I sure as hell wasn't going to go alone. Since I still hadn't been at the school for long, Fang was bringing me a Harding High shirt to wear for the game, so I could at least pretend that I wanted to be there.

"Here," he said when he arrived half an hour later, tossing me a baggy navy shirt. Fang, as per usual, was dressed in all black, and was sporting a Harding High baseball cap. I tossed the shirt on over my long sleeve and wrinkled my nose overwhelmed by the smell of cologne. "What?" he asked with a sideways glance.

"It smells like you."

"And that's bad?"

"It could be worse," I said with a smirk.

We argued the whole walk to school whether or not we would make playoffs this year which then spiraled into an argument about sports teams overall. We finally agreed that neither of us had much experience nor interest in sports, so neither of our arguments were valid.

"Told you," I said to Fang laughing, giving him a friendly shove. Unfortunately, that friendly shove happened to cause him to ram into Lissa causing her to drop her drink. She looked pleased for a second when she saw Fang, but her wide green eyes instantly turned to daggers when she saw me grab his hand to pull him away while he happily followed me.

"Are you going to the dance, Max?" Lissa called after me. I turned around, a little rattled.

"No," I said bluntly. I felt no need to explain my decisions to her.

"Pity no one asked you," she said with another hair toss. "It must be hard, having a boy's name and a boy's personality."

"At least she has a personality," Fang growled next to me. Lissa's eyes widened in shock, clearly taken aback.

"So, you two are an item?" she asked, glaring at us both. Fang smirked, just as he did anyone asked us if we were dating.

"No, Lissa. Unlike you, I have the rare gift of being able to be friends with a guy without sleeping with him. It's a blessing and a curse," I said with mock sincerity. She spluttered and opened her mouth to say something, but I turned and headed towards the bleachers.

We climbed up all the bleachers finally stopping in the top row when we saw Iggy's beaming face. "Look who it is!" He called. "Thanks for the invite guys."

"Iggy you were going to come regardless of if either of us came," I told him half smiling.

"So," he pouted. "An invite would've been nice."

"Don't worry. We weren't planning on coming until 30 minutes ago when Max dragged me out of the house for this," Fang said glaring at me. I gave him a bright smile in return.

"Oh, so you come to the games with Max, but not me?" Fang rolled his eyes at Iggy and gave him a playful shove. A few minutes later, the game started. Soon enough, we were getting crushed. The sun had gone down, and I gave an involuntary shiver as we watched our quarterback throw another interception.

All of sudden, the chill was gone. Fang had taken off his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. I looked up at his obsidian eyes, "Thanks, Fang." I wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned against him for a few minutes. He was an incredible guy to have as a friend, let alone best friend.

"You ready?" I asked him after the other team had scored another touchdown.

He nodded, "It's not looking to promising."

We bade the others good bye as we headed off the bleachers to walk back home.

"Spencer!" I called after the familiar shaggy light brown hair walking a few paces ahead of us. He turned around and flashed us both a quick smile. "I was reading Shawshank all day. It's incredible. I'm dying to watch the movie now. How did you know I would like it so much?"

He shrugged. "Maybe just more FBI profiler stuff," he said with a wink. "But I refuse to watch the movie, so you'll be stuck doing that with Fang I'm afraid. I'll see you guys." And with a quick wave, he disappeared into the mass of people ahead of us.

"Shawshank?" Fang asked looking at me quizzically. I quickly filled him in on how I had run into Spencer at the mall and he had loaned me his copy to read since he thought I might like it. "We can watch the movie tonight if you want," Fang said as we began the walk home, leaving the stadium lights and cheering fans behind us.

"Hmm, well I need to finish the book first. But it won't take long," I said as we got to my house.

"Back already?" my mom called from upstairs. "Hi Fang." He was over so often that even my mom could tell when he was here from his footsteps.

I settled in the window seat and bent my knees where Fang's bent knees were directly across from me. "Read to me," I said handing him the book.

"I'm not reading to you, Max," he said rolling his eyes.

"Please," I added in response to his raised eyebrows. "You have a nice reading voice."

"When have you ever heard me reading?"

"Sometimes in government you read to yourself out loud really quietly," he scowled at me, but grabbed the book and flipped open to the bookmark.

"The years went past and Andy brought his wall out to the exercise yard cupful by cupful. He played game after game with administrator after administrator, and they thought it was because he wanted to keep the library going. I have no doubt that was part of it, but the main thing Andy wanted was to keep Cell14 in Cellblock 15 a single occupancy." His voice rolled over me as I paid close attention to each word as he continued reading. I could hear the smile in Fang's voice as he read near the ending, his voice warm and soft contrasting with his occasional sharp demeanor.

"I hope the Pacific is as blue as my dreams. I hope," Fang paused, gazing up at me. "The End."

We sat in silence for a while, neither of us able to put the ending into words. He had read the book before, but this was the first book I had read in a long time.

"When was the last time you read for fun?" Fang asked, reading my mind as per usual.

"Not for a really long time. My dad used to read to me before bed in fourth grade, but after my parents got divorced, I stopped reading. At first, I couldn't read by myself because it just made me so mad whenever I thought about the divorce. But after a while, it just became a burden. They always forced us to read in middle school, and then I just refused to read on principle."

"Typical," Fang said, but he smiled at me – one of his rare smiles that makes the world a little brighter and the causes the Sun to stop in its tracks. I knew he tried to put a lot of unsaid things into that smile; he wasn't one to talk about emotions, and neither was I.


	5. Chapter 5

On a bitterly cold November night, I found myself at Fang's once again sitting on his bed staring out the window. I was desperate for snow; I was excited to explore the mountain, but more importantly, I needed to redeem myself after my previous skiing fiasco.

"Iggy's here," Fang said grabbing his black leather jacket from the bed and following me downstairs. Nudge and Ella's homecoming dance had been such a success that they were going on a double date in Boulder going to dinner and then to a 21-under club. Nudge's mom, who was best friends with Iggy's mom, had begged Iggy to go to the same club to supervise from afar. When my mom got word of the supervising situation, she insisted I go as well, and since Iggy was already going too, I only complained a little. I had then begged Fang to accompany me as well because Iggy had found out that a girl he had a crush on would be at the club, its opening night, as well.

Iggy's mom dropped us off around 8:30, and we thanked her for the ride before walking towards the brick building that was visibly shaking as high-schoolers entered in hordes. We had our hands stamped as we entered, heading up the stairs to the dance floor. Iggy immediately took off, his eyes on the look out for Lydia, a very pretty girl who sat in front of us in biology.

"You think he has a chance with her?" I asked Fang who had returned with drinks.

He scoffed, "Not a chance. She's way out of his league."

I shrugged, "Maybe Iggy will find a way to woo her."

"Woo her?" Fang repeated with a smirk.

"It's an expression, maybe you've heard of it."

"Maybe you should go back to the 1890s when that phrase was last used."

"Hi Fang," a soft voice said from behind us.

"Hi," he responded without even turning towards her. The girl, who looked vaguely familiar, stalked away clearly irritated with the lack of attention.

"There he goes," I muttered as Iggy started chatting up Lydia.

"And now we wait," Fang said watching the pair of them across the dance floor. Miraculously, Iggy had talked Lydia onto joining him on the dance floor, and they both seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

"You want to dance?" Fang asked me

I raised my eyebrows, "Do you want to?"

"Not really," he said shaking his head. "But I figured I was obligated to ask since we're in a club."

"Well come on then," I said pulling him onto the dance floor.

"I said no." He glared at me, but followed me onto the dance floor. I started dancing in time with the music, but couldn't help laughing at Fang who was stiff as a board across from me. "What?" he asked defensively.

"You need to loosen up a bit. Like this," I showed him how to move his hips and shoulders with the rhythm.

"I hate this," he muttered under his breath.

"Only because you're not good at it," he glared at me again. "You just need to practice."

"Oh yeah? Well you do it then if you're so clever," he said with an annoyed look on his face. I shrugged, and then began to dance with more movement.

"Hi," I heard a low voice behind me. "I'm Chris."

"Go away," I said without turning around. I hated guys like that – the ones that only talked to you when you were dancing or drinking, but they would never bother looking at you, let alone talk to you, if you saw them in any other setting. I wanted someone who wasn't afraid to talk to me while I was running and covered in sweat or shoving copious amounts of chocolate chip cookies down my throat.

Unfortunately, a few minutes later, Fang announced that he needed to leave to go watch Angel for an hour while his mom was at a book club meeting and his dad was downtown Denver for a work conference all weekend. I promised I would text him when I was leaving with Iggy because we had planned to finally watch Shawshank Redemption this weekend.

Just after Fang had disappeared, another familiar face appeared. "Hi Max."

Of course. It was Dylan. "Hi Dylan. How's it going?"

He shrugged. "Not too bad. Homecoming was a bit of drag though. I wish you would've been able to make it."

I felt my face heat up. I felt slightly bad about blowing him off, but wasn't really all that shook up about it. Fang and I had a great day just the two of us, and I definitely did not feel like I had missed out on anything.

"So," he asked with a twinkle in his eye. "Do you want to dance?"

"Um sure." I had no excuses to get out of this one and besides, he seemed like a nice guy. Fang had never elaborated on the basis for his dislike of Dylan, so I had no reason to say no.

He led me out onto the dance floor, and I had fun dancing with him because he was relatively more relaxed than Fang, so he was able to enjoy the music. We chatted about normal things – school, sports, friends.

"You seem to spend a lot of time with Fang." He gave me a penetrating stare.

"So?" He gave me a skeptical look. "Look, we're just friends. Really good friends," I added as a second thought.

"Yeah?" His face brightened and he flashed me another dazzling smile.

Suddenly, the music changed to a slow song. Of course. It was just my luck. The one time I agreed to dance they put on the only slow song of the night. I was about to make an excuse to run to the bathroom or check in with Iggy, when Dylan but his hand on my waist and stared at me with his sparkling blue eyes. Slightly mesmerized by his gaze, I put my hands on his shoulders. We swayed in time with the music for a few minutes, and I tried to look around the room to avoid the intensity of his gaze. Thankfully, Iggy was absorbed with slow-dancing with Lydia, so he didn't witness my brief dance with Dylan.

"You have beautiful eyes, Max," he whispered and leaned in so that I could count every freckle on his nose. Before I knew what was happening, his mouth was on mine. I felt myself kiss him back for a moment, but then I came to my senses and pulled back. His eyes flew open in shock and he seemed angry. I tried to pull away, but he managed to navigate us, so my back was pressed against the wall. His grip was surprisingly firm on my waist.

I stared at him for a moment, watching his eyes that were full of emotion – sadness, hurt, desire and a touch of anger. The fact that he had pinned me to a wall did not go over well with me whether it was intentional or not. I ripped myself out of his grasp and took off searching desperately for the exit.

"Max!" He called after he realized I was gone, "Max!"

I stormed out of the club furious. Who did he think he was? I was nice to him once, so that gave him the right to try to hook up with me. I wouldn't have been seething as much if he hadn't pressed me up against a wall. I had felt trapped which does not mix well with my extreme control issues.

I looked around for somewhere that I could wait until Iggy's mom came back to pick us up and I could spend the night with Fang which would at least take my mind off things. I had decided to tell him what happened, but not yet. I wanted to process it first before I gave him another reason to hate Dylan. I spotted coffee shop two doors down and burst in, causing the bell to ring loudly and almost fall off the wall. Embarrassed, I hurried into line, ordered myself a latte and noticed Spencer sitting in the corner with his nose buried in a book.

"Hi," I said softly pulling out the chair opposite from him.

"Hi Max," he said his face lighting up. "What are you doing here?"

"I was at that new club down the block."

"Interesting. I definitely didn't have you pegged as a clubbing girl."

I shuddered at that image. "Definitely not. Ella and Nudge went there on a double date. Iggy and I were sent to supervise, but Iggy's attention is currently very much elsewhere."

"Lydia?" He asked with a laugh and I nodded. Man, you could not slip anything past this guy.

"Why are you here?" I asked curious as to why he would be in a café so far from Centennial.

I noticed his face harden slightly and his jaw set. It was such a subtle change, but I noticed it immediately. "Babysitting, same as you," he said lightly. I raised my eyebrows. He wasn't the only one who could read body language and his was blatant. "My twin sister is at the same club you were just at, but we're polar opposites. She's a little crazy. Okay a lot crazy. Our parents know it, so I'm constantly sent after her to wait in the background for her to do something stupid."

"I didn't know you had a twin," I said quietly.

He nodded bitterly. "It's not like you would ever see the resemblance; she refuses to be associated with me afraid that I might hurt her image. She's fighting to be the most popular girl in school."

"With Lissa?"

He nodded again, "Yes, but she makes Lissa seem relatively tame.

"I'm sorry," I told him sympathetically. I couldn't imagine having my life dictated by my sister let alone her refusing to look at me at school. I made a mental note to spend some extra time with Ella.

He shrugged. "Thanks. I'm over it; I'm just tired of having life revolve around Erica and live under her shadow."

"Live under her shadow?" I exclaimed. "Spence, you're the smartest kid in our entire grade. If anyone's living in a shadow, it's her. You're taking two college classes as a sophomore. You're practically a genius."

He smiled sheepishly. "Thanks, Max. You're sweet, but it's just not that easy I guess."

"Oh, I almost forgot. I finished Shawshank! The book is in my room, so just remind me to bring it to school for you."

"What did you think?"

"Amazing. It was so short, but I just fell in love with the story. The ending was by far the best part. I can't wait to watch the movie; Fang and I are going to watch tonight. How did you know I would like it so much? It's the first book I've read in years," I added a little sheepishly.

He shrugged. "Seemed like something you would enjoy. I'll find you something else to read; just stop in the store one day this week and I'll get you all set up."

"Thanks," I said giving him a huge smile. Huge shout-out to this kid for getting me to read for fun.

"Max, is everything alright?" He asked me, dropping his voice. I took a sip of my latte to keep myself from answering, but ended up choking it was so hot.

After my coughing fit, I turned to face him. "Yeah, why?"

"Max," he said in a very no-nonsense tone.

"Fine," I said giving in. "But how can you tell?"

"You refuse to look at me if you're lying. Plus, you always fiddle with something – your hair, your belt loops, your shoe laces. And your pupils dilate. Well, unless that means you like me," he added with a wink.

I ignored his last comment. "Okay, well you know that Dylan asked to the homecoming dance right?" I paused, and he nodded. "He was in the club too, and after Fang left he came over to talk to me, and then he asked me to dance with him, and I said yes because I had no reason not to, and then suddenly I was pressed up against a wall while he was kissing me. I'm an idiot."

"You're not an idiot, Max," Spencer said looking at me sternly. "You did nothing wrong; just because you agree to dance with someone does not imply that you have any desire to be romantically involved with them in anyway. Dylan's clearly an egotistical jerk; he's been pining over you for a long time, and he probably got upset seeing you with Fang again, and wanted to take advantage of the time he had with you when Fang wasn't there."

"What's the deal with him and Fang?" I had briefly questioned Fang on it once or twice, but he had just ignored me each time.

He sighed, "That's something that Fang needs to tell you because I don't think he can even admit it to himself."

"Admit what?" Now I was even more confused.

He shook his head while his brown eyes looked at me, and I could tell he was reading me, looking for any telltale body language signs. "Are you okay?"

I shrugged. "Yeah."

"Max?"

I shrugged again. "Just a little freaked I guess. I wasn't exactly expecting to be pinned against a wall anytime this week."

He nodded. "That's totally understandable. What he did was horrible, and there's nothing you can do to justify his actions." He shook his head. "Some men disgust me." He paused again. "Just promise me you won't beat yourself up over this. The blame is entirely on Dylan."

I nodded, "Thanks, Spence. You're right." I was getting over my confusion, and anger was coming back now. "Should I tell Fang?"

He studied me closely again, "I think you should tell him, but not tonight. Give it a little while. Fang hates Dylan more than anything, and I'm mostly worried that Fang would go after Dylan if he found out he hurt you in any way."

I nodded. "Thanks again, Spencer." He gave me a reassuring smile before returning to his book. I sat there in silence for a while watching him read and trying to figure out what was going on in my own head. Before long, Iggy texted me that his mom was here, and I gratefully headed outside and hopped into her minivan. She agreed to drop me off at Fang's on the way back.

 **Happy Easter! Please let me know what you think of the writing, plot and character development!**


	6. Chapter 6

When I got to Fang's, he told me Angel and her friend had insisted on having a sleepover last night, so two air mattresses were still blown up covered in a heap of blankets and pillows. I plopped down on the one nearest the TV and Fang on the other.

The tv flickered to life flashing the golden Warner's Brother logo that reminded me of the trees that I loved. I pulled the blankets tighter around me and began to watch intent on not missing a thing. The lights were dimmed, the volume soft and no other sounds beside Fang's shallow breathing beside me.

I was completely immersed in the plot, touched by Andy Dufresne and Red, but for some reason, Brooks and his bird struck me the most. The way he talked to it, fed it and protected it like a small defenseless child made my heart swell. Each time its tiny head popped out his pocket, his giant hand stroked it so gently. He reminded me of my Grandpa. I felt Fang's eyes glance towards me every once in a while, but ignored him.

The night had grown late, but my eyes were glued to the screen. But I suddenly felt my stomach lurch. A thick rope was tied to the ceiling and two black dress shoes kicked away the chair and were dangling over the wooden floor. They kicked and thrashed for a moment, and then were still. I didn't realize I had bolted up into a seated position with my knees tucked into my body and my arms wrapped around them. My heart began to pound, and my hands grew clammy as the view slid up, showing the words Brooks Was Here carved into a beam along the ceiling. Memories came flooding back to me, and I could hear Fang saying my name softly after he hit pause. Everything around me seemed to stop, but I could hear my shallow breathing come quickly. My stomach lurched, and I was hit with a wave of nausea so strong I was afraid I was going to be sick. This scene had not occurred in the book – only Brook's bird had gone back to Shawshank Prison to die where it had been born. I pulled my knees into my chest, my arms wrapped tight around them.

Something warm grabbed my cool, sweaty hand, and I looked over. Fang had grabbed my hand, cradling it in both of his, his dark eyes wide with alarm. "Max."

I slid my gaze towards him, embarrassed to feel my eyes grow hot. The gold specks in his eyes were more prominent than ever as they reflected the light from the screen. "Sorry," I mumbled under my breath.

His hold on my hand tightened, "Don't apologize." He paused, his eyes still searching my face as I felt a tear trickle down my cheek. "Are you okay?"

I didn't respond, I had never talked about this with anyone before, not even my mom or Ella even though they had both encouraged me to open up to someone. They told me it wasn't healthy to keep everything bottled up all the time; naturally, they were right.

"Hang on," he said and hurried upstairs. I heard plastic crinkling, the microwave beeping and glasses clinking. I heard heavy footsteps retreating into the basement, and Fang set down a warm plate of chocolate chip cookies and two glasses of cold milk in between us.

"If you don't want to talk about anything, I get it," he said quietly giving me a penetrating stare. I was so touched by his gesture, that I stood up and surprised myself by wrapping my arms around him in a hug. He stood stiff as a board at first, clearly surprised, but I felt his arms relax and they wrapped around me.

"Thank you," I said, mumbling into his shirt, and I could picture him smile above me. "How did you know chocolate chip cookies were my favorite?" I asked pulling away and sitting back down with the cookies. I bit into one and I closed my eyes as I enjoyed the melted chocolate seeping through the sweet crunch.

He shrugged. What else was new? "You mentioned it in passing once," I stared at him. No one had ever remembered such a small, minute detail about me except for Sam, but that was because we were dating, and even then, it was more of an obligation. "Besides, whenever I'm over your pantry is stocked with Chips Ahoy."

"You're always over," I said rolling my eyes.

He paused, returning his sharp gaze towards me. "Are you sure you're okay, Max?" I nodded slowly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I was silent for a long time, dragging out the need for me to speak by chewing my cookie slowly. I finally took a long swig of milk, and returned my gaze to Fang. "When I was in eighth grade, I had a friend named Sarah. We did everything together – we had met on the track team in 7th grade, and our personalities just clicked. For the whole summer after seventh grade, we were inseparable. A lot like Nudge and Ella actually," I said trying for a smile, but I noticed Fang listening intently, dead silent and not moving. "Well, as the summer came to a close, Sarah suddenly became more distant. She didn't want to go on long-runs, she didn't want to have crazy sleep-overs like we used to, she didn't even want to come to school and when she did, she was different. I did everything I could over the first few weeks to cheer her up or get her to crack a smile, but nothing worked. Around Thanksgiving, she finally confided in me that she had major depressive disorder, and hers was characterized by a lack of interest in her usual activities like running. Around Christmas, she told me she was considering suicide. Completely horrified, I promised her that I would always be there to listen, to talk, to do whatever she wanted."

I took a deep breath, but my voice came out shaky and uneven, "She used to tell me how she was worthless, how no one would miss her if she was gone, how she felt that she had nothing to live for. I tried to convince her she was wrong, but it's hard to reason with someone who has a severe imbalance of serotonin in their brain. Her parents were distraught; they took her to a therapist who specialized in behavioral depression and she was on a high dose of anti-depressants." I paused again, staring at my hands wringing and twisting in my lap. For the second time that night, Fang reached over and grabbed both of my hands in his sending a surge of warmth through my body. "But, nothing worked. Not the medicine, not my reassurances that I loved her and needed her as a friend, not the psychological counselling she went to each weekend. On February 8th, I got a phone call from her older sister that she had committed suicide. They found her wrists slashed and her body submerged in an overflowing bathtub." I shuddered. Just the image of her broken, crumpled body made me want to throw up. "I never got to tell her again that I loved her or that things would eventually get better. She was only 13."

I shook my head sadly, feeling Fang's eyes on my face. He squeezed my hands gently, "Max, there was nothing you could have done."

I nodded, that's what everyone had told me. My mom. Ella. Sarah's family. But it still didn't make a difference; Sarah was gone, and I was still here and that was what mattered the most. "I know," I said, letting out another shaky breath. It was weird I trusted someone who was a random stranger to me not long ago so much; I had never opened up about Sarah to Sam who had known about the whole story firsthand.

We sat like that for a long time – Fang's hands wrapped around mine, with the movie still paused in the background and the lights dimmed. A while later, I agreed to resume the movie after Fang reassured me that the ending mirrored that of the book.

I still couldn't shake the memory of that fateful day, but I managed to sink into the pillows and enjoyed the rest of the movie as best I could.

I rolled over to face Fang after the credits had finished, "Thank you. For everything. For listening."

He gave me a soft smile, "Have you ever talked about that before?" He asked, reading my mind as per usual. I shook my head. "You know I'm here for you, Max."

I nodded, looking at him seriously, "I'm here for you too, Fang, you know that?" He nodded, and the corners of his mouth twitched in an attempted smile. I slowly fell asleep comforted by the image of Fang laying peacefully on the mattress next to me.

 **Sorry this chapter is so short - I'm playing around with a few different ideas. Please let me know your thoughts on character and plot development. Thanks and happy reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's the latest chapter! Please review and let me know what you think. As always, I'm open to any suggestions or criticism you have for the story!**

Sun streamed through my blinds waking me earlier than I had hoped, and I groaned and rolled over. Then I remembered. Christmas!

I threw off the covers and bounded down the stairs, admiring the beautifully adorned Christmas tree. It looked very traditional from far away, but I knew that the tree was covered in ornaments Ella and I had made growing up with our faces plastered to each one. Three stockings hung above the fireplace, each stuffed to the brim with an assortment of presents framing the fireplace underneath the tree.

"Ella!" I called as I burst into my room grinning from ear to ear.

She gave a noncommittal grunt and rolled over. "Five more minutes."

"Nope," I said gleefully. "Not unless you want me to wake you up as I did last year!"

"Okay, I'm up, I'm up." She threw off her covers and wrapped a fluffy pink robe around her shoulders before following me to our mom's room. "I did not need to be woken up with a pitcher of ice water, Max."

"Clearly, my presence wasn't enough, so I had to think big." I opened the door to where my mom was peacefully sleeping in her bedroom. Not for long.

"Merry Christmas!" Ella called as I went and pulled the blinds back revealing a bright sun that was reflecting off snowflakes falling thickly from the sky.

"Your very first white Christmas," I added gesturing at the sky.

My mom grinned; unlike both Ella and I, she was able to wake up the second her eyes opened. Lucky.

"Merry Christmas, girls," she said grabbing a robe like Ella's and leading the way downstairs. "Who wants chocolate chip pancakes?"

Ella helped my mom prepare the pancake batter from scratch while I was in charge of setting the table and getting the juice ready. I wasn't allowed to cook. My mom had fair reason for banning me from the kitchen – last time I tried to cook, I had managed to catch the food on fire and singe off my eyebrows. It wasn't pretty.

She filled our plates high with fluffy pancakes and we headed into the living room sitting around the fireplace enjoying our breakfast and the peaceful snow falling outside. I was thrilled it was snowing again because Fang had promised that after the next snow, he would teach me how to ski. Between finals, Christmas and everything else in between, we hadn't had sufficient time to devote to the slopes, so I was hoping he would take me as promised tomorrow morning.

"Ella, you start," I said tossing her a soft package. We had already opened our stockings and I was delighted to have found an assortment of my favorite candy and gum, a bottle of dark grey nail polish and a very cool bookmark from the shop where Spencer worked. Ella's had been filled with makeup brushes, lip gloss and a few pieces of dark chocolate. She ripped off the paper to find a large maroon scarf that was connected all the way around for which she squealed and gave mom a hug before embarking on a rant detailing every shirt it would go with.

My mom opened the package that Ella and I had gotten her, revealing the canvas print of all three of us standing overlooking the mountains. We hardly had any pictures of us together, and Ella had decided that the new house could use some personality.

When it was my turn, I tore the paper off of a small wooden box and found an Epic pass inside – it was a season pass for all of the ski resorts in Colorado, and it even gave me access to the best mountains in Utah, Vermont and California. "Thank you!" I wrapped my arms around my mom. I was so excited – now, I just needed a ski jacket and snowpants and I would be ready to hit the mountain.

Ella opened the rest of her gifts which gave her an almost entirely new wardrobe. I had found a navy sweater that was stitched by an older lady who lived way up in the mountains, and she had thrown it on over her pajamas.

I grinned as I looked at the open boxes around me. A pair of burgundy snow pants and a sleek black ski jacket were on the ground with a pair of nice mittens from Ella that even had a spot for handwarmers in them. I was stoked.

My mom popped _It's A Wonderful Life_ into the DVD player and we watched the movie sipping hot chocolate as we did every Christmas morning. The movie credits rolled and I leaned back into the couch yearning to try out my snow pants and go play in the cold like a little kid when the doorbell rang.

"Merry Christmas," I heard a familiar voice call as Ella opened the door.

"Merry Christmas, Fang!" Ella said wrapping Fang in a one-armed hug. "You too, Angel!" She added, picking up Angel and holding her against her waist.

"This is a surprise," I said with a laugh Fang came into the living room along with Angel and his parents.

"Well, your mom and I got to talking and we decided that since we would both be here for the holiday, it would be nice for us all to get together and spend the afternoon together. You know play some games, watch a movie," she said as she pulled back from hugging me. I grinned and gave her a bright thumbs up.

"Wanna play in the snow?" I asked Fang.

"Why not?" He asked with a smirk eyeing my new snow apparel. He ran home to grab snow gear for him and Angel while I pulled mine on right over my pajamas.

"So, Angel," I asked bending down next to her. "Did you get anything fun for Christmas?"

She nodded emphatically her bright blue eyes lighting up. "I got a really pretty doll that looks just like me! And some sweaters. Oh, and a Polaroid camera!"

"Oh yeah?"

She nodded again, and her curls bounced up and down. "Yeah! It's so cool; it even prints out the picture right in front of you." She then told me all about the filters she got so that when she took a picture, the whole picture could be colored, and she had a collection of film that had patterns on the border.

Fang returned decked head to toe in black, no surprise there, in his snow pants and jacket. Angel quickly pulled on her pink jacket and purple pants and then waddled into the snow to make snow angels with Ella. How fitting.

Angel decided she wanted to build a snow castle just like in Frozen, so she and Ella went off to work in the corner promising to kill either of us if Fang or I disturbed their castle.

While Fang was distracted watching Angel carefully sculpting the entrance to the moat around her castle, I rolled a perfect snowball in my hands and threw at Fang catching him on the back of the head.

"You'll pay for that one Max," Fang said with a devilish grin and scooped up some snow before hurling it at me across the yard. I tried to move, but had slipped in the snow and he managed to hit me dead in the face.

I glared at him from afar, "You better watch it Ride." I threw another snowball that he easily dodged, but I was ready for the next one he aimed at me too, quickly side stepping away from where the snowball was heading. We were soon immersed in an intense snowball fight with us each somersaulting across the yard through the snow to avoid being fit and to access the fresh snow on the side. Laughing, I dodged another snowball and fired one over at Fang which he easily side stepped until he turned toward Angel who was explaining her castle to him when I took my shot and nailed him on the side of his head.

"That wasn't fair!" He called from his spot next to Angel.

"All's fair in love and war," I responded with a smirk. I bent over to make another perfect snowball and looked up to see Fang barreling at me through the snow. Unable to sidestep him in time, he went straight for my knees and tackled me, falling on top of me into a pile of powdery snow. 

"Get off," I muttered, suffocated by his sheer weight on top of me. He rolled over, so we were lying side my side in the snow – Fang panting and me laughing as snowflakes caught in my eyelashes.

"Merry Christmas, Max."

"Merry Christmas, Fang."

And just like that, this Christmas was one of the best I had had in a long time. No fighting, no arguing, no boring awkward time between opening presents and Christmas dinner.

"So," he asked after a while of us staring up at the white sky. "Do you like it here now?"

His question was so out of the blue, that I wasn't sure how to respond.

"I do," I found myself saying. "I really do."

"You didn't seem so intent on staying when I met you at first."

I nodded, "Well, I didn't want to stay when I was here. My mom had uprooted us again to move, and I was tired of having to make new friends and start over every couple of years. It would be nice to just pick somewhere and stay."

He nodded slowly, letting the snowflakes fall onto his eyes and nose. He looked incredibly peaceful just lying in the snow, much happier and more carefree than at school understandably.

"Don't go then," he said simply, his eyes still closed.

"What?" I turned towards him, watching.

"Don't go," he repeated.

I smiled. "Okay." If only it were that easy.

"What are you two weirdos doing over here?" Ella asked coming over to join us.

I shrugged. "Thinking."

"About?" She prodded.

"Nothing."

She rolled her eyes, but laid down in the snow next to us anyway embracing the cold and the new winter we would experience for the first time.

My mom called us in shortly after, and had steaming mugs of hot chocolate waiting us topped off with whipped cream and marshmallows. We were corralled to the kitchen table where the game Catchphrase was waiting and our three eager parents wanted to play.

We joined them at the table, but I was sitting next to Fang which meant we would be on opposite teams. Much to everyone's surprise, we only got into one heated argument the whole time which was a true Christmas miracle. Fang and I did not do well when we were on opposing teams – we're both too competitive and too stubborn to admit that we're wrong, so games like this could go on forever if we refused to go to the next round. A few rounds later, we switched teams and Fang and I had the ability to practically read each other's minds when trying to describe the items in "Everyday Life." It was a little uncanny how well we could tell what the other person was trying to say, especially when we were so much worse when paired with our actual family members. Funny how stuff works out isn't it?

After we had eaten our fill of Christmas dinner, Fang pulled me aside, "I have your gift."

"I told you not to get me anything!" I protested. He just rolled his eyes and pulled out two packages wrapped in matching paper. We were sitting on my bed, and I pulled out his gift from under my bed.

"We both go on the count of three?" He nodded, "One, Two, Three."

"No way," I murmured as I ripped off the paper to reveal a ski helmet. It was beautiful. It was sleek and dark grey with fur along the ears and chinstrap, and would match my ski jacket perfectly. "Thanks, Fang!"

"Where did you find this?" Fang asked, his voice barely audible as he held up the _Catcher in the Rye_ book I had gotten him. It was a vintage edition, and there were only a few copies that existed in print. I shrugged. I didn't want him to know how much trouble I had gone to in my attempt to locate it somewhere I could pick it up in person. He let out a soft sigh as he flipped through the book, letting each delicate page fall between his fingers. He stopped when he got to front cover which was signed by J. D. Salinger.

Fang gave me a bright smile as he opened the ski goggles lens replacements I had gotten him with the book. Iggy had mentioned that his were pretty scratched, so I figured he wouldn't have any excuses not to teach me now.

I pulled out three books from the other wrapped package from Fang. The first one was a new copy of _The Shining_.

"It's also by Stephen King," Fang said gesturing at the book. "You liked Shawshank so much, I figured you'd like this one too. It has a really good movie adaptation." I grinned at him.

The next one was a small leather-bound edition of _The Great Gatsby_. He insisted that I had to have _The Great Gatsby_ on my bookshelf even if I didn't like it; it was a classic. I traced the gold stitched writing with my finger.

Finally, a tattered copy of _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ fell out. I flipped through the pages, and each one was dark yellow with age and the pages were wrinkled – it had clearly been read over and over again. "It was my grandmother's copy. It's the book that got me into reading. Literally," he said with a lopsided smile. "She gave it to me when she died, but I think it'll be a good edition to your new book collection."

I stood up and wrapped both hands around Fang's waist. Maybe because wasn't so surprised this time, or maybe because it was Christmas, his hands found their way around my back and he hugged me back with minimal hesitation.

I was so touched by his book selections for me, and I think he was more excited than he was letting on about the new _Catcher in the Rye._

"Merry Christmas," he murmured, and I could feel his chin pressing into the top of my head.

"Ooh," Ella said with relish as she opened the door. I rolled my eyes, but pulled back from Fang where he happily released me. "What's happening in here?"

"Gift exchange," I said following her lead downstairs. "Get a grip." She just laughed.

"Come on, we're going to watch the _How the Grinch Told Christmas_ ," she said bounding downstairs. "Maybe you can relate, Max." I just scowled as I followed her and curled up on the couch.


	8. Chapter 8

"I hate this," I grumbled glaring at Fang.

He just rolled his eyes. "You can't be perfect at everything, Max. Besides, you've only been at it for a few hours. I've been skiing my whole life. It takes time."

I scowled at him. I wasn't stupid; I knew I wasn't going to be a world-class skier by lunchtime on my first day on the hill, but I was cold, and my feet and ankles were all smashed together in the heavy ski boots. "I'm bored."

He raised an eyebrow, "You're not thoroughly enjoying this morning on the magic carpet?"

"Real amusing, Fang."

He chuckled, clearly pleased with himself. "Do you want to try a green?"

"Green?"

"It means the easiest type of run. There are easy greens which are circles, intermediate blues are squares, blacks are difficult and diamonds and double black diamonds are considered experts only. We have some double blues here too which are between intermediate and difficult."

"It beats this," I said gesturing towards the white expanse we had been practicing on. There was the world's slightest decline, and I was the only person taller than 3 feet that wasn't an instructor. To say I was humiliated was an understatement.

"Are you ready for the chairlift this time?" He asked me, the gold specks in his eyes danced in the Sun.

"If it gets you to shut up about it, then yeah." Fang and Iggy had been taunting me about riding the chairlift ever since Ella had told them that chairlifts were not my favorite thing in the world. When my dad took us skiing as kids, he had gotten us on the chairlift to go up to the top of the mountain, but I had refused to get off, so I just kept going back down the mountain. They don't exactly allow that, so I got yelled at by about six different people, but at least I was safe on the ground.

Fang chuckled under his breath some more as we made it to the chairlift line that would take us up to some real runs.

"Okay," Fang said his voice soft and no longer sarcastic. "We're going to shuffle up right after this chair swings around. Just turn behind you and you can watch the chair come, and just sit down right as it hits your knees. Easy."

I nodded. If all these tiny little kids could do it, so could I.

"Yo Fang, what's happening?" A broad-shouldered, blonde-haired guy with dark eyes fist bumped Fang as we followed the chair that had just swung around. "Who's the chick? Your latest girlfriend?"

Fang rolled his eyes. "This is Max. We're just friends. Honest."

His friend looked skeptical, "You better watch out Fang, or someone's gonna swoop in and snatch her up before you can."

Fang opened his mouth to retort, but we were already on the chair heading rapidly up the mountain. "Hey," he said turning to me. "You made it."

I smirked. "Who was that?"

"An old family friend. His name's Jared. We grew up together. We even ski raced together a while back." He looked at me and most likely read the dark expression on my face, and he cut me off before I even opened my mouth. "He's a good guy. Some of the stuff he says can be a little off, but he's a good guy."

"Someone going to 'snatch me up'?" I asked hotly.

"He doesn't mean it that way. If anything, he probably just thinks I need to have a girlfriend or something stupid. He's one of those guys that always has a girlfriend. He bounces between girls constantly, and well, that's just not for me."

I nodded. At least Fang was a good guy and understood that people weren't prizes to be won. The tree branches blew in the wind and I burrowed under my face mask as the wind whipped through the air. The chairlift slowed to a stop, and I jolted up from watching people gracefully ski down the mountain as if they would turn just by thinking about it. "What's happening?"

"We're stopped. Someone probably fell off," he muttered matter-of-factly, staring at the flurries that began to fall from the sky.

"Fell off?" I asked. I could even hear the panicked note in my voice.

"Not fell off, but just had trouble getting on or off. Usually little kids or something. It happens a lot on these lifts because they're meant for beginners."

I nodded, quickly relieved. If people fell off chairlifts, skiing would most definitely not be something I would continue. I have enough anxiety by myself, no need for any near-death experiences. "They should learn from the pros then," I said with a grin.

"Alright hotshot, let's see how you do when you get off," Fang said. His gaze now followed a bird that soared across the grey ski clearly unfazed by the winds and snow. "Max, can I ask you something?"

I nodded, "What's up?" We had completely come to a stop now, and the chairlift slowly swung back and forth with the gusts of winds.

"I was talking to," he paused, "someone." Gee thanks, Fang, that's not vague at all. "And, well they told me about that night at the club when we were there with your sister and Iggy." I froze. He finally shifted his gaze to look at me, and his face was impassive, but his dark eyes were penetrating. "Someone mentioned that Dylan was there." His face hardened, his jaw set at the mere mention of his name.

"Um yeah," I said awkwardly.

"Max, what happened? Are you into him?" He asked, his voice hard and serious.

"About the second you left, Dylan popped up and we were talking. He's always been so nice and friendly to me, especially right when I moved here, and hardly knew anyone."

"You knew me," Fang interjected. His face reflected hurt and I was taken aback.

I smiled, "Well, duh. You guys were so cool, so welcoming. I'm just saying he seemed nice at the beginning of the year because he didn't know me at all."

Fang nodded but didn't smile.

"But, he started talking to me and then he asked me to dance. I didn't have a reason not to, or any excuse not to," I quickly added, "so, we danced for a little. A slow song came on, and Iggy was preoccupied, and he kissed me."

"Did you kiss him back?" He asked. His voice sounded angry and his eyes were dark, unreadable.

"Are you serious?" I asked him, my voice sounded unnaturally loud in the mountains, but I didn't care.

"People saw you. They told me. You never did," He said. He kicked his feet together and sheets of snow fell off his skis into the snow beneath us.

"I was pinned to the wall, Fang!" I exclaimed, my angry voice now drawing attention. I quickly lowered it.

"What?" He turned towards me so fast I almost fell off the chairlift that was finally moving again. His voice was deadly calm, but his eyes flashed with anger.

"He had pushed me into the two walls in the corner of the place. I couldn't move. I pulled back and my head was shoved in the corner. I had to rip myself out of his grasp before I could run out. You seriously thought I was into him?" I asked glaring back at him. My gaze softened when I saw Fang's furious face. His mouth was pressed together so tightly his lips turned white and his eyes were narrowed dangerously.

"You don't do that," he said.

"No, I…" I tried to cut in.

"No." He repeated. "You don't do that. You don't pin a girl against the wall and force yourself on her; I don't care who you are. You don't do that." I had never heard Fang's voice get like that – it was quiet, yet his message was clear. I could practically feel the anger radiating off him.

"Fang," I said softly, turning toward him. He had unbuckled his helmet and ran a hand through his dark hair.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, his obsidian eyes met my light brown ones with such intensity I couldn't look away.

"I was afraid you would overreact," I muttered. I didn't need him getting arrested for beating up Dylan. "I didn't want you to do something stupid and get in trouble."

Clearly unfazed, he cracked his knuckles. "He deserves it."

"I know, Fang, but please, please don't do anything about it. It's not worth it. _He's_ not worth it."

He looked at me for a while, then turned back to the trees. We were nearing the top of the chairlift and signs were posted on the big metal posts telling you to put the bar up and prepare to unload.

"I just don't get why you didn't tell me?" He muttered, clicking his skis together again, but there was no snow left this time to clear off.

"Why do you care so much?" I hadn't meant to sound so aggressive, but it came out slightly accusatory, but I didn't apologize anyway. "What if I had been into it?" I don't know what made me say it, but I blurted it out. Typical. Nice filter, Max.

He glared at me for a second. "Because I…I…" He shook his head looking confused. "You're my friend. If anything happened to you, I would…You deserve better than that." He shook his head again. "Sorry for caring."

We had reached the top, and Fang pushed off with his skis and smoothly went off the chairlift and skidded to a stop facing the map. Oh shit. I leaned forward, kept my feet parallel and held out both arms for balance. A true miracle kept me from falling on my face, and I slid over to wear Fang was standing slowing coming to a stop by pushing my ski tips into a pizza.

"Shit," he muttered. "I am so sorry. I totally forget to help you get off the chairlift. Glad to see you made it off in one piece this year." Lucky, I made it off at all. His voice dropped, "I'm really sorry about what Dylan did. He's…" Fang scowled. "There's no word to describe what he did. What he is. It's despicable."

"I know," I said softly leaning my head against his shoulder. I dropped my voice, kicking snow with my ski. "And I wasn't into it. I just said that, I don't why. It was a shitty thing to say."

"I know. I just wish you would have told me. Hearing it from someone else sucked."

"I'm sorry too. I really should've told my best friend," I wrapped my arm around his waist for a second. I felt his chin on my helmet as he nodded.

"People made it sound like you were hooking up," he shuddered from beside me. For some reason the idea of me with Dylan really freaked Fang out. Especially the concept of us hooking up.

"Look," I said, pulling back at looking him straight in the eye. "Dylan's a dick. It's over. I am not into him at all, especially now, I promise. You just have to trust me."

He nodded. "As long as I don't kill him."

"Can you at least tell me why you hate him so much?"

"Does it even need explaining after what he did?"

I shrugged. "Come on. You owe me some ski lessons." I tried pushing off, but almost face planted. Snickering, Fang came up behind me and gave me a push to get me started since I wasn't allowed to use poles until after I could go down a blue by myself according to Fang anyway.

"Just follow me. Go exactly in my ski tracks." He pushed off slowly with his skis, and I imitated him as I got into the grooves his skis made as he carved a path through the powder. "Keep your skis parallel." He turned slowly across the mountain making giant U-shaped tracks that I followed and tried to keep my skis from forming into a giant pizza when I turned.

I studied his form in front of me: bent knees, leaning forward, skis shoulder-width apart. I began to feel more comfortable as we picked up speed as the hill became slightly more steep.

"How's it going?" Fang asked, turning into a quick stop and spraying snow down the mountain.

I shrugged, "Not bad. No falls; so far, so good. How do I stop?"

"It's called a hockey stop. They teach beginners to pizza or snowplow into a stop. That means you just point the tips of your skis together, and you'll slow into a stop, but it's better to try the hockey stop even in the beginning. When you want to stop, you just move your hips in one direction quickly and get you feet to follow. You form a right angle. It's a sharp turn."

"Like this?" I started going down the mountain and followed his instructions. I swung my hips to my left, tried to turn my skis to follow into the hockey stop he had just demonstrated, but naturally the tips of my skis overlapped, I lost my balance and was shortly lying on the ground covered in snow. It wasn't the first time today.

Fang tried to suppress a smile as he slid down to meet me where he extended his pole to help me up. "Try this." Fang slid down to where I was standing and slid into position just inches behind me. He placed his hands on my waist and turned them sharply to the left and stopped when they were facing the woods. He retraced the motion with my hips a few more times to build up the muscle memory and then skied down ahead of me and had me keep following him. I felt a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold and my hips tingled from where his gloves had turned my waist in the stop. Weird.

He was surprisingly a good teacher; he didn't yell at me; he usually refrained from laughing when I fell, and he didn't complain about being stuck on the boring greens with me since he could easily be doing something more challenging. We practiced the hockey stop all afternoon by doing a few stops on each run until I could do it without falling. I only managed to succeed consistently turning to the left, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

By the end of the day, I was a pro at riding the chairlift and could successfully go down most "hard greens" without a full-fledged wipeout. I could even stop about 75% of the time without falling or ramming into Fang. Such improvement.

"You're doing really well, Max," Fang said as we finished our last run for the day. My hands and toes had grown numb ages ago, but the snow was incredible, and it wasn't too dark, so we had kept at it most of the day.

"Always the tone of surprise," I said with a smirk as I popped my boots out of my skis. Fang had explained it was best to buy my own skis when I had a little more experience, so I could figure out what style ski I liked, and to prevent any damage I caused in my frequent falling stage. "But, thanks," I added. "Skiing is definitely more fun with you than my dad, and I might actually be improving."

"How about some blues tomorrow?" He asked wiping down his skis with a towel as we reached the rental shop.

"Sounds awfully ambitious," I said slightly skeptical. I wasn't dying for an injury my first week on skis.

"You can handle it," he said confidently. "You'll be with me."

"You're the worst," I muttered. We waited for the shuttle back eager for a steaming mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream, marshmallows and caramel. I'm high maintenance, sue me.

The next day, we hit the slopes early and I was determined to improve, ready to show everyone that I wasn't as bad as they thought.

"Okay, Max," Iggy said his voice dripping with sarcasm, "now this is the part where you bend your knees. Pretend you're sitting on a toilet. Bend, bend, bend. Okay, now sit!"

Fang shoved him before I could just as the chairlift swung around the corner and scooped us up leaving Iggy behind.

"Hi Fang," Jared said with a smirk at Iggy as we loaded up the lift. "Have fun with Max," he added with a twinkle in his eye. It was like he knew something I didn't, and we're all aware of my control issues. What a weirdo.

"You both suck!" Iggy yelled after swiftly maneuvering the metal chair and sliding back into line with Derek and Gazzy. Neither Ella nor Nudge liked being cold, putting on snow-pants or falling into snow that much, so they were both out shopping all day. What a surprise.

I stuck my tongue out at Iggy as I gracefully skied off of the chairlift coming to a relatively neat stop near Fang at the trailhead. I had been skiing a handful of times now and had gotten more comfortable on snow after I practiced turning and stopping all day with Fang yesterday.

He gave a slow clap as he skied off the lift and then did a quick turn, so he was skiing towards me backwards. What a dirty little show off.

"How's the skiing, Max?" Derek asked me, bumping my fist with his very professional ski glove.

I shrugged, "I'd have to say I'm killing it."

"Debatable," Fang muttered and I lightly shoved him while he chuckled to himself.

"So," Derek said eying Fang. "I think Max deserves to see Fang in full action. A few moguls, a few slalom runs."

"No way," Fang said. "She's not ready."

"Not ready?!" I asked, my voice rising as I turned to face Fang. "I am-"

"She'll be fine," Derek interjected stepping between us ready to interrupt one of our many vocal arguments. "We'll all go down first, and she'll just follow us. I promise I'll go slow," he added with a wink to me. "Then, you can bless us with your talents of ski racing."

"Wooo!" Iggy and Gazzy cheered in unison ignoring the death glare Fang shot at both of them.

"Ski race! Ski race!" Gazzy chanted, his bright blue eyes and spiky blonde hair visible through his goggles and underneath his helmet.

"Come on Fang," Iggy chimed in. "It's been forever. Max wants to see."

Fang glared at both Derek and Iggy, his dark eyes bouncing between them until he finally gave in. "You're both irritating. I'm only doing it so Max can see what real skiing looks like," he said with a smirk at the end towards Derek and Iggy.

Gazzy instantly took off, propelling himself down the mountain. Iggy and Derek followed immediately but turned more frequently and more smoothly than Gazzy whose skis remained parallel to each other and pointed down the whole way. Fang pushed off gracefully and I stumbled after them. Thankfully, I felt much more at ease on skis today and once I started, I was able to follow them on the catwalk that wrapped around the mountain and fed into a gently sloping run. I skidded to a faulty stop and sprayed Gazzy with snow, but he just laughed, and his bright eyes glinted mischievously.

An ominous black diamond sign was perched at the top of the mountain that looked precarious – the run looked much icier than anything I had tried so far, and brightly colored gates were sprinkled across the steep slope. Iggy and Gazzy raced each other, their skis cutting through the ice with each turn.

"Come on," Derek's bright smile contrasted his dark skin against his helmet. He gestured down the mountain, "Just follow exactly in my tracks!" He turned his skis quickly over the edge and made large looping turns over the top half of the mountain.

I looked over the edge terrified. The steep icy black diamond run was miles beyond any greens I had done yesterday.

"You don't have to do this," I heard Fang's quiet voice beyond me. But rather than support me, it just irritated me and was the push I needed to tip over the mountain. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and suddenly my skis were gliding over the ice. I followed the soft tracks Derek left and pushed my skis into a pizza as I began my ungraceful turn down the mountain. The breeze blew through my hair as I slid across the ice. The feeling was surreal. Fang was right; it was exactly what I imagined flying would be like. I grit my teeth in concentration and managed to do my last arching turns with my skis more parallel as opposed to a pizza. My face split into a huge grin as I reached the bottom, ecstatic that I hadn't suffered any serious injuries on my first black diamond ever.

"This calls for celebration," Derek said with a grin as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "You killed it."

"Thanks," I said brightly. "It only took me about an hour to get down." I didn't care that it took me so long to get down – speed was something I could work on later; right now, I wanted to appreciate my new skiing ability.

"I may have to retract my statements from earlier," Iggy said, his pale eyes glimmering in the Sun as he held out his hand for a fist bump. "Gnarly." I rolled my eyes, but slid over to watch Fang dazzle us with his brilliance.

My breath caught in my mouth as Fang's nimble figure jumped over the ledge and began to literally fly down the mountain, whipping in between the colored gates and smacking each one he passed with his pole. I had never seen anyone move like that – so graceful yet powerful, so strong and prominent yet elegant. His knees arched in perfect unison at each curve where his ankles nearly scraped the ground while his skis carved slick tracks into the ice.

He finished abruptly in front of us spraying a small bit of snow at Gazzy who laughed again. Derek and Iggy slapped him on the back. "There he is!" Derek chuckled.

"Guess who's back. Back again. Fang's back…Tell a friend," Iggy sang loudly. "Sick, man."

Fang rolled his eyes. I had a retort at the tip of my tongue ready for him about not being able to ski down, but it flew away as I watched. "I guess that was pretty good," I said with a soft laugh.

"Pretty good?" He raised his eyebrows while the smirk toyed with his lips, and I shrugged, and it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

Fang and Derek skied off following Gazzy who was a clear speed-monster.

"Hey, Ig" I said, and he slowed down to be at my pace. "Can I ask you something?"

"Ask away," he turned slowly, practicing carving his skis into the fresh powder and I imitated him.

"Why doesn't Fang ski race anymore?" Iggy shrugged, but refuse to meet my gaze. "Come on, Iggy. I know you know."

He turned his face to look at me, and his mouth wasn't split in its usual grin and his eyes were heavy and gray. "It's a later story. It's…" he paused, flicking up unnecessary amounts of snow with his poles. "It's a long story." I stumbled. I was expecting something simple like he got burnt out or maybe even injured himself one day. "I'll tell you one day, Max. I promise."

He pushed ahead of me slowly and I was left confused and frantically shuffling to catch up in his wake.

 **Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, I really appreciate the feedback! Any more reviews and comments would be greatly appreciated - I would love advice and critques on how to move the story forward. Hope everyone enjoys the chapter. More reviews could potentially get a faster update for the next chapter as well...:)**


	9. Chapter 9

"Guys, guess what?" I sang as I sat down at lunch, sliding in next to Derek with Iggy and Fang joining the table with me.

"The fifth dentist caved, and now they're all recommending Trident?" Iggy asked keeping a stoic face.

Derek and Fang rolled their eyes used to Iggy's incessant sarcasm.

"No," I said after a pause. "But try again, it's good news."

"You want to go see The Greatest Showman with me?" Ella asked her face lighting up in a grin.

"You got all the answers to our bio homework?" Fang asked with the trace of a smile in his eyes.

"You bought us all tickets to go see the Red Hot Chili Peppers in concert?" Derek added hopefully.

"You got asked on a date!" Nudge shrieked with such enthusiasm that I almost thought she was right.

"Okay, I have news," I muttered and everyone's faces fell but Iggy just rolled his eyes. "Besides Ella, why would you go see the Greatest Showman again, you've already seen it twice in theaters?"

"Because it's that good! Max, it's life changing. The music, the humble backgrounds, the love story. Not to mention, Zac Efron singing," she added with a dreamy look to Nudge.

"Max, if you don't want to go see Zac Efron and Hugh Jackman singing and dancing together, there must be something seriously wrong with you because it was breathtaking and beautiful – like a baby bird taking flight! Besides, Hugh Jackman is a piece." Iggy opened his mouth to voice his disgust, but Nudge didn't even blink. "Yes, Iggy. I know he is 50 years old, but he is beautiful, talented and a gift from God on this Earth."

I shook my head laughing as I pulled an apple out of my backpack, but the girl had a point. Hugh Jackman was admittedly good looking, and he had a nice voice. "I just feel like I wouldn't be able to watch it without expecting him to whip out his claws half way through the dancing number where he's swinging around on the hoops." They both stared at me with a vacant expression on their faces. "You know, Wolverine?"

Ella shrugged, "Hugh Jackman doesn't swing on the hoops, Max. He's the circus master. These are things you would know if you would have gone to see the movie with me, but oh well."

I just rolled my eyes.

"So, what was your news, Max?" Fang asked after a moment.

"I've decided I'm going to run the Denver Marathon."

"Seriously?" Derek asked turning towards me, his eyes wide with interest.

I nodded, "Yeah, it's in the end of May every year and you get to run all throughout Denver and two of the miles go through the Bronco Stadium which is hype. But, I missed the signup and training is like 18 weeks, so I want to do it next year. Give me some time to mentally prepare, you know?"

Ella looked skeptical, "Why?"

"Why?" I repeated, confused.

"Why would you pay to run for hours on end?" She seemed genuinely confused.

"Lots of reasons! It's one of the things on my bucket list, and I'm not exactly getting any younger."

"You're 16," Fang said incredulously.

"So, maybe I run a marathon every year for the rest of my life. Then I'll have run fifty by the time I'm 66," I retorted. "Besides, you get sick gear and bragging rights for life." Everyone kept looking at me like I was crazy, and I just glared right on back at them. It was something only a small percentage of the population could do, and I wanted to prove to everyone – myself included – that I was strong enough mentally and physically to run 26.2 miles whether or not they were going to support me. "Look, it's just something I've always wanted to do."

"Hasn't your mom run a bunch of marathons?" Nudge asked Fang and he nodded.

"You can talk to her about it Max. But let me warn you: once she starts, she won't stop talking about it."

"That would be so cool though Max! Ooh, I already have lots of great ideas for signs to cheer you on! How about: Run like Hugh Jackman's waiting for you at the finish line!"

"I got a good one," Iggy chimed in, "If a marathon were easy, it'd be called your mom! Ha get it? And easy would be spelled E Z."

I shook my head, "I can't say my mom would appreciate that."

Iggy snickered as Ella rolled her eyes. "I have another one," he added. "Okay so it's two posters: Just go faster! That's what she said!" Derek laughed while both the girls groaned, and Fang just stared at them looking half amused, half concerned.

"As charming as those are Iggy, I think Nudge and I will be able to think of something slightly more motivational," Ella said as the corners of her lips twitched into a smile.

"When do you sign up for next year?" Derek asked running a hair over his brutally short haircut.

"End of May and early June is when registration opens I think."

"Good, that gives you plenty of time to think about it before you sign up," Fang said as his eyes flew rapidly from side to side as he scanned his notes.

"Sorry, what is there to think about?" I asked, but I didn't sound too sorry about it.

He shrugged, "It's a huge time commitment to train and it takes a lot of mental willpower to run for 26 miles. You have to completely revamp your diet, your sleep schedule, your social life. I've just talked to people who make a big deal about running a marathon and then flake out because they don't realize what they signed up for. I'm not saying that's you, Max."

"26.2 miles actually," I muttered.

"What social life?" Iggy asked breaking the tension as I glared at Fang across the table. Who was he to tell me what I could and couldn't do?

Unreasonably annoyed, I shoved my apple back into my backpack. "I have to go meet with Mr. Davis," I quickly stood up and knocked the table which dug into my thigh. "We have a paper due at the end of the week and I need to clarify something in the prompt. See you guys later."

"Max," Fang said as I turned from the table and headed towards the cafeteria doors, but I pretended I didn't hear him and kept going with my backpack casually slung over my shoulder. Keep it to me to be dramatic at all times.

Once I had left the cafeteria, I wasn't sure where to go, so I slowly walked along the hallway leaning against the lockers, but I hadn't heard the footsteps gradually getting louder behind me.

"Max," a familiar voice said as a hand grabbed my shoulder. I spun around but didn't say anything. "I know you're not going to see Mr. Davis. There's no history paper due this week," he said softly, "And to be honest, I'm pretty sure he would blatantly refuse to meet with you even if there was."

I tried to suppress a grin. Suffice it to say, Mr. Davis and I were not on great terms considering we showed up exactly as the bell rang every single day and managed to disrupt class at least twice a week. Parent-teacher conferences sure would be fun this year, but as long as I wasn't in real trouble, I doubted my mom would even care at this point.

"Look, I'm really sorry about what I said about you not being able to run a marathon. You're the craziest person I know; if anyone is going to do it, it would be you," he said as his dark eyes bore into mine.

"I'm going to ignore the part where you aggressively insult me as "crazy" and just say thanks," I said with a smirk. He raised his eyebrows and I laughed. "Fine, you're not wrong."

"Honest though. You're the toughest, most determined person I've ever met. I'm sure you'll make it through all 26.2 miles and still be able to insult Iggy after crossing the finish line."

"I would run slower just to make sure that's a possibility," I added after a thought. "Sorry for being dramatic."

"What's life without a little flair?"

I leaned back against the lockers and let my knees give out until I was sitting on the floor and Fang quickly joined me.

"Storming out would have been more effective if you'd brought more than an apple," Fang said with a smirk looking down at my untouched apple balancing on my leg.

"Noted, I –"

"Hi Max," a cheerful voice rang out through the hallway. "Fang," he said after a pause.

"Dylan," Fang said through gritted teeth.

"Fang," I murmured grabbing his arm after I saw his hand clench into a fist.

"What are you two lovebirds doing out in the hallway? Avoiding wandering eyes? Getting some alone time together?"

"Get out, Dylan," Fang's voice was colder than I had ever heard it.

"I really don't want to interrupt," Dylan said sweetly.

"What do you want?" I asked glaring up at him. I didn't like sitting on the ground as he leered over us – it was unsettling, and I felt incredibly vulnerable, but I was afraid standing up would provoke Fang whose temper was fleeting at the best of times.

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to invite you to my party this weekend Max. Nothing too special, just some cool people hanging out."

"Thanks, but no thanks Dylan. I won't even sit at your lunch table with you let alone go to your house for a party."

"Why not? Afraid a few drinks might loosen you up and let your true colors shine?"

I rolled my eyes, "You see, I would rather fling myself from the Empire State Building than have to spend any more time with you."

His perfect grin faltered for a second but remained plastered to his face. It was like he didn't know how to show emotion; he was like some robot. "But, we had such a good time together the last time we hung out."

At that comment, Fang lunged, and I felt myself lifted off the ground as Fang sprang to his feet. "You're gonna pay for that."

"Fang," I pleaded, "let's go. He's not worth it." Surprisingly, and thankfully, Fang's taut arm went slack and he let me drag him down the hallway away from Dylan. "He's just trying to get to you. Just ignore him."

"Easier said than done," he grumbled as we kept walking down the hallway and turned the corner.

"Can you at least explain to me the issues you have with each other? Clearly you hated him before this."

"What?" Fang asked very unconvincingly.

"Oh, come on. You called him an airhead the first time I mentioned him. You openly glare at him most times we pass each other. Besides, Iggy already confirmed with me that you two have beef, and I want to hear it."

"Not right now," he said running a tan hand through his long hair.

"Well, when then?" Yes, I know patience is a virtue, but it is not one that I have mastered.

He shrugged. Typical.

"Fang," I implored.

"Fine," he said with a groan intermixed with a chuckle. "We've just always butted heads for as long as I could remember. He stole my blocks in first grade, so I bit him."

"Naturally," I said barely able to suppress a laugh.

"In eighth grade, when I skied competitively, I was racing against Dylan. I was ahead of him by a few yards and seconds away from breaking a state record." His voice hardened, and his eyes narrowed; the change was subtle, but I instantly took note. "He put on as much speed as possible in the last decline before the finish and body slammed me from the right side. Hard. So hard I lost my balance and dislocated my shoulder when I fell. Dylan was obviously disqualified, but he took everything everything away from me. That record, that medal and win, skiing."

"Fang," I breathed. "I'm so sorry. I never would've talked to him if I'd known what a freak he was. That's completely mental – hurting you and disqualifying himself just so you wouldn't win and break his record." He just shook his head and scowled at the floor. I paused, and my voice grew soft, "Is that why you quit ski racing? Because of Dylan?"

He shook his head again, "No. I would never let him take that away from me forever. Thankfully, I didn't need the surgery, but I was still out from training for six weeks and racing for ten weeks which killed the rest of the season."

I was confused – if that's not what ended his ski racing career, what did? I had a feeling it would take more than an injury to keep Fang from the mountain, but had no way to piece together what it was.

"That must've killed you," I muttered. I couldn't imagine not being able to run for six days let alone six weeks. I was injured for a month right before freshman year and I drove everyone up the wall with all the extra energy I had pent up.

He nodded. "It would be different if it had been an accident. Or if he had at least pretended it was an accident." I was envisioning the scene in _Cars_ when the gross green car smashes into super-car star Dinoco King, so he can win the race, and Dinoco ends up covered in dirt, grass-stained and dented on his final race ever.

"Speaking from a strictly professional and psychological point of view: that guy is wacked. It was eighth grade. What kind of psychopath thirteen-year-old is out for blood?" Fang chuckled, and I smiled to myself, happy I could bring a smile onto his face.

"You're not wrong."

"I'm never wrong."

"Not even just now when you stormed out of the cafeteria?" Fang asked with a twinkle in the corner of his dark eyes.

"Well, it worked. My point was made," I said defensively, and Fang just rolled his eyes. Nothing was new. "But, I am sorry for being 'unnecessarily dramatic' or whatever you called it."

Fang smirked before grabbing his backpack and hopping up to his feet. It would avoid annoying questions if no one knew we weren't actually working on a paper for Mr. Davis, and I was irritated enough for the day – I didn't need Iggy and Nudge harassing me about my relationship with Fang. It was strictly platonic.

A few hours later, I was walking home from school with Fang and Iggy who was swinging his backpack at squirrels and unsuccessfully reaching them. "Do you want to come over?" Fang asked as I turned into my sidewalk, "My mom made chocolate cookies."

"Do you even need to ask?" I quickly turned back off my lawn and followed the two boys up the street to Fang's house.

"You can talk to my mom about running stuff, marathons, all that if you want. I think she's home early today."

"Hi Mrs. Ride," I called as I followed them into the house.

"Hi Max!" Her warm voice called back, "Fang and Iggy is that you two?"

"Can't pull anything past you, can I, Mrs. Ride?" Iggy asked laughing as he sat himself at the table.

"Snacks?" Fang asked and I shook my head at him. A typical male, unable to anything for himself, I went to the pantry and pulled out Goldfish, pretzels and some carrots from the fridge.

"Ugh, thanks Max," Mrs. Ride said as she hurried into the kitchen. "Glad my son is unable to function as a human being by himself." I flashed Fang a cheeky grin and grabbed the container of strawberries and rinsed them and slid them onto the table.

My eyebrows furrowed as I watched Iggy inhaling Goldfish by the fistful, "It's like you haven't eaten since you were six."

He muttered something about "growing boys", "lots of exercise" and "lunch was hours ago".

Sufficiently grossed out, I hopped on their silence to change the subject. "So, Mrs. Ride. I'm thinking about signing up for the Denver Marathon, and Fang had said you'd run a few marathons before."

"That's awesome, Max! I've run Denver four times and it's an incredible race – you run all through the city, through the Bronco stadium and the volunteers are incredible and so supportive. Running a marathon is definitely something I would recommend; it's changed my outlook on life and really makes you think about your values and priorities when you're giving up so much time to train. Also, there's nothing like bragging rights for life," she added with a wink.

"Great, I'm so glad you think it's a good idea!"

"I would love to sit down with you sometime and help you get a training plan set up, go over nutrition and give you some tips. 95% of the training and racing is mental. Would you run it next spring?"

I nodded, "I don't think I have enough time to train for this years. It's May 20, and it's already the end of March." I shrugged, "I'd rather not rush it. I'm not too keen on getting any injuries."

"Maybe you could talk Fang into running it with you."

Fang snorted and nearly spit out his drink. "Yeah. Like I would ever run 26.2 miles for a free banana. No thanks."

Mrs. Ride rolled her eyes and turned to the pile of potatoes she was peeling, humming to herself.

"I've got some great ideas for signs for Max," Iggy said brightly. Fang shot him a warning look, but Iggy plowed on. "Worst parade ever. It's a Sunday – I don't move on Sundays. My feet hurt from standing here for 4 hours!"

"Very clever, Ig," I told him rolling my eyes. At least he kept out the one about your mom. I had a fear a lot of these signs would be put into action and very visibly paraded around downtown Denver in a years' time.

"Well, I'm going to pick up Angel from a friends. Max, shoot me a text whenever you'd like to talk about marathon training. I'll pick the brains of some of my running friends and see what pearls of wisdom the three of us can impart on you." She turned to Fang sounding very motherly, "No more snacks. Dinner will be in two hours."

Fang mumbled something about "always being hungry" as she turned towards the door. '

"Iggy and Max, you two are welcome to stay for dinner if you like," she called before walking out the door.

"As much as I would love to join the family dinner, I've gotta get back. I told my mom I would help her cook tonight."

"What are you making? Maybe I'll stop for dinner at your place," Iggy asked through a mouthful of pretzels.

"Well, considering I am only capable of making toast by myself, I will probably be stuck setting the table and doing dishes. You could call that cooking though. Why?"

"I'm quite the chef," he cracked his knuckles in front of him.

"A full-fledged Guy Fieri," Fang said grabbing a carrot.

"We're riding the bus to Flavortown!"

Iggy groaned as Fang and I smacked high-fives.

"It's the frosted tips, bro," Fang told him.

"I don't have frosted tips! You wish I had frosted tips. You _know_ I would look good with frosted tips. As Guy Fieri would say, I would look funkalicious with frosted tips. You're welcome, world," he said kissing his fingers and holding them to the sky while I just rolled my eyes.

"Pretty sure food isn't the only reason he wants to go," Fang muttered under his breath.

"What?" My voice cut through the air like a knife.

Iggy's death glare was so impressive I was surprised Fang didn't fall out of his chair.

"Iggy."

"Max."

"What's the deal?"

"Nothing."

"Maybe he'd tell you if Ella was here," A subtle smirk played across Fang's lips.

"Ella?" Despite the confusion etched upon my face, no one did me the favor of explaining what was going on. It suddenly dawned on me as I noticed how red Iggy's face had become. "Are you into Ella?"

"What? No. Don't me ridiculous, Max."

"Come on, Iggy, don't be ridiculous. I have a gift – I can detect a lie within 50 feet and this is a blatant one."

"Spencer teaching you his tricks?" He asked with a scowl on his face.

"Maybe. But that's beside the point, you look like a tomato."

He groaned, "It's nothing. I just said I thought she was cute. Once. But really, it's nothing." Fang coughed non-discreetly and I raised my eyebrows. "Okay fine. I also said she was funny. Happy?"

"Not particularly," I said, and Fang laughed.

"Look, Max," he started, "It was a super brief, teensy weensy little crush. But it's over, okay?"

"What if I said she liked you too?"

"She does?" He asked his eyes wide.

"I have no idea, but you're practically glowing at the thought."

"That was uncalled for," he said glaring at me. Thankfully, my death stare is comparable to Iggy's, so I was not fazed.

"I was proving a point! But, because I am a gracious friend and doting sister, I will talk to her and see what I can do for you."

"You're lucky Fang's here Maximum Ride otherwise…" he shook his head dramatically.

"You're such a drama queen," Fang said piping up again.

"Well as fun as it is for me to picture you and my sister falling madly in love, I think I'm gonna go."

They both bade me good-bye as I grabbed my backpack, a fresh chocolate chip cookie for the road and headed out.

"Hi," I said brightly entering Ella's room to find her laying on her bed.

"Um hi?" she asked clearly confused by my desire to socialize. Normally after school I complained about school for an hour, laid in bed doing nothing for an hour, would go run and then complain some more about how I had no time for homework.

"How's," I completely blanked on the guy she had been talking to's name. "What's his face?"

"Oh, yeah. That's been over for a while. He was weird," Ella said nonchalantly skimming through a _People_ magazine. "Why?"

I shrugged, "Just trying to bond with my little sister. Is that too much to ask?"

"It's too much to believe," she said turning on me. "What's up, Max?"

I groaned, "I promised I wouldn't tell anyone this."

"Come on!" Her demeanor changed instantly. "This can be your bonding with your little sister."

"Fine. I'm not naming names, but somebody were friends with thinks you're cute."

Ella's eyes grew wide with shock and pleasure. "Oooh, who?"

"I'm not telling!"

"Is it Derek?"

I shrugged in response.

"Is it Fang?" She laughed, "No, he's way too into you."

"What!" I shrieked cutting her off.

Ella just rolled her eyes laughing, "We talk about it all the time. You two are obsessed with each other but refuse to acknowledge your feelings."

Now I was the one rolling my eyes. "You're ridiculous. Why is a platonic best friend relationship so difficult for people to understand?"

"Because no two people ever are platonic," she explained in a very matter-of-fact, how-do-you-not-know-this-already tone. "You can be plantonish, but there's never the exclusive platonic relationship between two people." I opened my mouth to interject, but she plowed on. "I don't care how good of friends you are."

"This is absurd. Now, I'm definitely not telling you who thinks you're cute," I said turning to leave.

"I'll call Nudge. We'll know within two hours ayway. Besides, I can't wait to say 'I told you so' in approximately two months when you and Fang get married."

"Bite me," I called back as I threw myself onto my bed. I was preparing myself to do absolutely nothing for the next hour to prepare for my hour of complaining later. As I pulled up Netflix on my laptop, I couldn't help wondering why my heart was beating so rapidly when Ella told me that Fang was "way too into me."


	10. Chapter 10

"Hey Spence," I called as I entered the cramped shop in the corner of the mall with books covering the walls floor to ceiling. "Nice haircut."

He smiled ruefully as he ran a hand through his hair that was cut short in the back and flopped over his eyes in the front. "It wasn't exactly what I meant when I said I wanted a quick trim."

"How's it going?" I asked as I sank deep into the leather chair and kicked my feet up on the ottoman.

He shrugged, "Nothing to report. I do have another book for you if you want."

"Ooh yeah. I would jump out of this chair in excitement, but I'm too comfortable."

He rolled his eyes and pushed his glasses up his nose as his eyes scanned across the stacks of books before placing each one into its correct spot. "Here," he handed over a book with a bright yellow cover and neon pink writing that said _Zodiac_. "It's a bit of departure from tradition. It's a nonfiction that details the crimes of the infamous Zodiac killer who terrorized northern California in the 60s and 70s but was never caught by detectives."

I flipped through the pages and must have looked skeptical because he added, "It's incredibly well written, and there are drawings of what the killer may have looked like and copies of the letters he used to taunt the police and inflict massive chaos on all of California."

"They seriously never caught him?"

He shook his head, "They had detectives all of over the state working on the case, but he was very prepared, risk-aversive and efficient with his methods. They only were able to match five victims to him, but he claimed to have killed over 37 people in his threats to the police. Besides, the FBI predicts that there are anywhere from 25-50 active serial killers throughout the US at any given time."

I shuddered. That was disturbing. "Great. Now I'll really be able to sleep at night."

"If it makes you feel any better, you are more likely to die getting out of bed each day than you are to die at the hands of a serial killer."

I couldn't help myself from laughing, and Spencer flashed me a quick but slightly confused smile from where he was putting more books away.

"So, what were your thoughts on the books you got for Christmas?"

"I actually loved _The Shining_ – I really couldn't put it down."

"Did it scare you?" He asked, amusement etched upon his face.

I shrugged. I didn't want him to know that I couldn't read it before bed without watching an episode of _Friends_. It really freaked me out. "It was a little creepy."

"A little?"

"Okay, it was terrifying. I had to make sure I had lots of room in the freezer before I started." He looked at me blankly. "You know, in case it got too scary. Just put it in the freezer!"

"What?"

"Don't tell me you've never seen that _Friends_ episode," I began. "Joey gets Rachel to read _The Shining_ , but tells her she can't read it unless she has room in the freezer to store it when it gets too scary."

"Sorry," he said with a shrug turning back to the shelves. So uncultured. "Did you know that in the least season of _Friends_ , the cast banded together and requested a pay raise, so they were making one million dollars per episode?"

"The tenth season wasn't even that good," I said with a scowl. "So, what are you doing tonight?"

He shrugged again, "There's a really interesting documentary on Korean films and literature playing at the theater in Creekland Corner at 8:10 tonight if you want to come."

"As appealing as that sounds, I think I might have to take a pass." I'm sure it would be educational, but educational wasn't exactly how I wanted to spend my Friday night.

"You really are going to miss out; I heard it's fantastic. Aren't you hanging out with Fang tonight?"

Now it was my turn to shrug. "We don't have spend every waking minute together."

"Max, what's going on?"

"Nothing," I instinctively mumbled, but one skeptical look from Spencer and I quickly rethought my plan to lie. "It's really not a big deal. He's just been a bit off lately. Extra quiet and really distant."

"When?"

"Just the past week and a half. He didn't come to lunch the past two days, ignored my texts, and he didn't even laugh when Iggy realized he had been wearing his shirt inside out for the entire morning. I think something's going on, but Iggy said to give him so space. I don't know what to do Spencer."

He stared at me for a long time – his light brown eyes scanning me, calculating my thoughts, reading through my emotions like a book. Finally he took a deep breath, "I don't know what to tell you Max, but I think that Iggy's right and Fang just needs his space right now. I wouldn't take it too personally though, Max; he's been very distant and aloof with everyone lately, even Angel. I went to drop off a book that I had borrowed last weekend and Angel came to the door because she said Fang wouldn't get out of bed. She was upset because he wouldn't take her skiing for the weekend and I guess he had promised to take her down a blue run this weekend, whatever that means."

"You don't ski?" I asked completely losing the pretense of the conversation.

"Do I look like I ski?" He asked with a smirk. The kid had a point. "But, is that really all you took from that?"

"Sorry, I was distracted," I muttered sheepishly. "But that sounds pretty bad, Spence. You really think it's better to give him space? That he doesn't need someone right now? I never would've pictured Fang refusing to ski, especially with Angel. She has that boy wrapped around her finger."

He nodded sadly, "I know. But I also know that Fang has things to think about; he's really overwhelmed, and I would guess confused and unsure of himself."

"How do you know all of this?" How was it that he knew everything about everyone ever without even talking to them? "Can you please just tell me what's going on. Iggy was being weird too – talking about how Fang wanted to be alone and that he was probably just thinking."

"Not to be all mysterious and 'weird like Iggy', but this is something that you shouldn't hear from me. You deserve to know Max, but I wasn't there and Fang's clearly not ready to tell you."

"So, what? Am I supposed to just deal with Fang being cold and distant until he decides he's ready to tell me?" I asked my frustration starting boil over.

"That's not what I'm saying," he said simply. "But I wasn't there, and it's only fair that you should hear it from someone who was. I would talk to Iggy."

"Fine," I said with a sigh.

"Just remember that Fang loves you. He would never intentionally hurt you, and don't say this isn't hurting you," he added with a stern look before I could protest.

I nodded and must have looked so overwhelmed and confused that he wrapped his arms around me and I pressed my face into the crook of his shoulder.

"Thanks," I murmured as I pulled away.

"You got it," his smile was soft.

I opened my mouth to say something else, but a family of four had just walked in looking entirely lost, so Spencer hurried over to greet them.

I called out a good-bye to Spencer before heading back into the open mall with _Zodiac_ tucked under one arm. With no desire to shop, as per usual, I headed outside and began the short walk home breathing in the air laced with the scent of spring flowers. I smirked to myself thinking about how much I was convinced I would hate snow and winter and all of Colorado – I never had envisioned myself sad to think of the snow melting and summer on its way.

I hadn't been paying attention to where I was walking but realized with a start that Gazzy was playing basketball outside a very familiar-looking red brick house.

"Max!" his bright voice called, and he waved enthusiastically.

"Hey kiddo," I called crossing the street.

"Kiddo?"

I laughed, "Sorry, Gaz."

"Could a kiddo do this?" He turned around, so his back was to the basketball hoop and tossed the ball in a perfect arc behind him and it sailed through the netting perfectly.

"Very impressive," I called.

He tossed the ball at me and made me imitate his movement. Much to my dismay and Gazzy's delight, the ball sailed over the backboard b bounced down the sidewalk. Laughing like a maniac, he chased after the ball with his blonde spiked hair bristling in the breeze.

"Who's the kiddo now, huh?" He asked stilling grinning manically.

I chuckled and bumped his fist. "Is Iggy here?" He nodded as he returned to shooting hoops facing the basket this time as I headed to the door.

"Hi Max," Iggy greeted me brightly opened the door wide and I followed him in. "What brings you over here?"

I shrugged, "I was walking home from the mall and accidentally took a detour and then just got roasted by your little brother."

He nodded solemnly, "He tends to do that."

"Anyway, do you wanna hang out?" I asked reclining in his leather chair.

"Well, I'm very confused as to what we're doing right now…" He said with a straight face and I just rolled my eyes. He laughed, but his voice turned serious again. "Fang still giving you a hard time?"

I shrugged, "He's just been distant. It's really no big deal."

Iggy smirked, "I know you just talked to Spencer and he told you to talk to me." I didn't respond – how did everyone know everything? It was incredibly frustrating. "Good grief, Max. He texted me. You think everyone knows everything and is talking about it behind your back. None of that's going on, I promise."

"Okay," I said in a small voice.

"Why don't you stay for dinner? I'll even teach you how to cook as long as you don't light my eyebrows on fire."

"I'll do my best, but there's no promises."

He flashed me a grin, and raced upstairs with me following in his wake.


	11. Chapter 11

"No, no, no!" A voice yelled from across the kitchen. Iggy came running over to where I was watching smoke rise from some very burnt vegetables that I was supposed to be supervising.

"Does this not look right?" I asked trying to keep a straight face.

"You're actually hopeless," he groaned, scooping out the mushrooms and onions that were apparently not supposed to be added until after the carrots and broccoli were "al dente". He turned the stove down to simmer, added a pat of butter and sprinkled salt and pepper over the bubbling liquid before covering the pan with a lid. "You should never be allowed in a kitchen."

"Hey!" I retorted.

"You don't listen, you refuse to read a recipe all the way through and you can't focus long enough to prevent things from catching on fire," he responded with a smirk.

"Fair enough," I said handing him two plates which he heaped with steaming vegetables, noodles and chicken.

"Please do not hesitate to send your compliments to the chef," he said.

"What the actual – Iggy this is really good," I muttered trying not to spew crumbs everywhere.

"Come on, Max," Iggy chucked, "Say it. Don't spray it."

"I'm complimenting you!" I protested, but Iggy just shook his head laughing.

"Thank you very much – I'll be here all week."

"You're obnoxious," I muttered returning to my food. He shrugged with a grin still plastered to his face. "So, can I ask you a question?"

"You know, I have a feeling that even if I said no, you ask anyway," he said with a smirk putting his fork down and walking his plate over to the sink.

"Are you ever going to ask my sister out on a date?"

A loud crash ensued as Iggy dropped his thankfully-plastic plate on the floor and his metal fork clanged against the dishwasher with a surprisingly loud clatter.

"What?" I asked non-chalantly as he glared at me.

"Why would I ask Ella out on a date?"

"I thought it had been well-established by all participating parties that you are in love with Ella."

"I don't love her!" He exclaimed. "Maybe I have a very slight crush on her, but I don't love her."

"So, then ask her out."

"If it's so simple, then why don't you ask Fang out?"

"What on God's green Earth are you talking about?"

"I thought it had been well-established by all participating parties that you are in love with Fang," he quoted back to me in an uncanny representation of my voice.

"Good grief, Iggy. I'm not in love with him; the man will hardly talk to me. So, can we please get back to your problems now?"

"Okay fine. Suppose I do ask her out, what do we do on our date?"

I shrugged, "Something romantic. She'll eat that right up, believe me."

"Okay, but I'm looking for explicit suggestions here, Max. A nice moonlit carriage ride pulled by horses that overlooks the lake while I sprinkle rose petals over her hair and serenade her with a very out-of-tune rendition of _The Way You Are_ by Bruno Mars? Or a mystery walk through the woods at dusk and carve our initials into a tree with my pocketknife, and then magically join the woodland creatures in song before embarking on a beautiful homemade picnic that is miraculously still warm after our musical number with the elves?"

"Elves aren't woodland creatures," I noted.

"Okay, well I'm glad that's the only thing you took away from that. Thanks. Very helpful."

"Just invite her over and cook something nice. Have candles. It'll scream romance. Besides, you're asking the wrong person for romance advice."

"Great, we can double date. I look forward to it."

I groaned, "Not this again."

"I'm not rehashing anything; I'm speaking only the truth."

"Iggy, he won't even return my texts let alone talk to me in person."

His face suddenly fell, "Her name was Lily," he said softly, and a sad smile appeared on his face. "She grew up next door to Fang and they were always close. Their families were always together because their moms were inseparable. They grew up like siblings and not much changed, but she was the one who got him into ski racing." He paused, shaking his head. "It's funny, really. She was this tiny little thing, so dainty and fragile you almost thought she would break if you pushed her too hard, but she was a ski racer growing up and even introduced Fang to the sport. He was a natural – you saw him ski through the gates. It just comes easily to him, and he loved it. He was out on the mountain everyday practicing because, well he's never admitted it, but I think he dreamt of going to the Olympic trials and even the Olympics someday. He really could've too. That's the worst part."

I pushed my plate away from me with an uneasy feeling growing in my stomach. In all the time I had spent with Fang, I had never heard him talk about a ski partner, let alone a girl named Lily.

"But anyway. They ended up getting into a huge argument because Lily was upset that Fang was so much better than her, and she claimed she had 'invented' him as a skier and that she deserved all the credit for how good he was."

I raised my eyebrows, "Did she?" I couldn't imagine Fang letting someone tell him they were the reason he was a good skier, let alone take all the credit for his natural talent and hours of grueling practice.

Iggy shook his head. "No. Of course not. Sure, she introduced him to skiing and racing, but Fang's talent was so innate that no teacher could ever have taught him that. His heart was also so in it and nobody can teach you to love a sport like that. Besides, I don't think she ever even taught him. I'm pretty sure she was more upset that she had begun to plateau as a skier – she peaked early. The summer before freshman year she was great, but she just never mastered the performance in the way that Fang had even despite his injury. But Fang and Lily got into a pretty heated argument because Fang refused to be friends with someone who wouldn't support him in something he loved, and she refused to be second best to him."

His voice grew bitter, but he continued the story. "They stopped talking, and slowly she drifted away from our group and began hanging out with other girls, but she never stopped skiing. They had a big ski race with dozens of teams all competing, and Lily and Fang were both there, and Fang went to go watch her event. It's not like he hated her. The conditions were horrible because it had been incredibly warm after the first snow of the season which melted, but the temperatures dropped crazy low overnight, so the base for the whole season was a giant sheet of ice. Powder just slid right off the mountain. She was flying down, no doubt trying to impress Fang, when she caught an edge."

He stopped talking, and his pale eyes looked up and met mine. His eyes were red, and his voice cracked as he continued, "I was there with him. Saw it happen. Something happened – she lost control, and barrel into the tree marking the edge of the course. She was probably going around 60 miles per hour."

I had no words. Nothing. So, I reached out and grabbed Iggy's hand which tightened around mine as if he were gripping a lifeline.

"She collapsed unconscious at the base of the tree. The medics were on scene immediately, but there was nothing they could do. They airlifted her out, but she died en route to the trauma center. They said it was basically a blunt force trauma to the head and abdomen – internal bleeding, a fractured pelvis, severe brain bleeding. She wouldn't have made it if the hospital was 10 minutes from here." I gripped his hand tightly in mine. "Fang never got to make up with her. At least I was on good terms with Lily. I can't imagine the pain and knowing Fang he'll take responsibility for it even though there was nothing he could have done to prevent it."

He shuddered. "I can't imagine somebody I loved dying and never able to tell them how much they mean to you. She was just a freshman. Just 15 years old."

I shook my head. "It's…" I couldn't put into words what I was thinking. "It's unconceivable, horrible that someone can be ripped away from this world when they've done nothing wrong. Especially when most of the people still here aren't even half the person she was."

"Tell me about it," he muttered softly shaking his head glaring at the floor, angry at the world for ripping apart a wholesome, innocent 15-year old life. We sat in silence for a long time, gripping each other's hands but not speaking a word. Finally, his grip started to slacken and the hardened look in his face faded and was replaced by something else I couldn't place.

"For weeks after, Fang didn't speak to anyone. He stopped skiing entirely, refused to come to any group hangouts and just didn't respond to texts from anyone. He took time off from school and was a real mess. I don't think he smiled for two months. Finally, he started to come around and get back to his old self, but he was never really the same. His smiles always fell into grimaces and there were lines on his face that should never be on a 15-year-old. His laughs, infrequent as they were before, became downright nonexistent and the only ones we experienced were forced and put on for the show."

"But, then you came along. Ever since he's known you, Fang's been different. It was a startling transformation to see him smiling everyday and to hear his real laugh echoing throughout the hallways at school. He actually hangs out with us now when you're not around and he spends much less of his time moping around or re-reading old books alone. I'm glad we've got Fang back."

I tried for a smile, but I think it came out as more of a grimace. "Me too." It made my heart ache to think of Fang holed up in his bedroom with the curtains drawn, blocking out everyone even Angel.

"To be honest, he seems happier and more carefree now than he ever was before. Fang and Lily were too fundamentally different; they valued different things and they let that grow a rift between them. You and Fang are different too, but your differences complement each other. Your arguments are a nightmare to listen to, but they're generally pretty trivial."

"Were they," I paused, "together?" I felt my heart skip a beat as I awaited an answer I wasn't sure I even wanted to hear.

Iggy shook his head, "No. I mean maybe they would've someday if they had gotten over the skiing argument. But I also think if they had gotten together Fang never would have been truly happy. She held him back even if it wasn't on purpose." He paused and then flashed me a bright smirk. "Are you sure you don't like him?"

"Yes, Iggy I'm very certain. I already explained this to Ella; we're platonic. But, apparently that means nothing to you people," I said with a scowl.

"Well, when you finally can admit to your undying love for each other, I would love to have a double date. You know, to ease the sexual tension." His eyes were playful again and it was a nice return to reality to have Iggy being annoying as usual.

"If you so much as lay a hand on my little sister, I will personally drive to your house and cut your testicles off in your sleep."

Iggy snickered.

"Oh, you think I'm kidding?"

The grin faded and was quickly replaced by the look that would be appropriate for that of the deathbed of your friend's grandfather. I laughed as I punched him lightly on the shoulder as I went to put my dishes in sink.

"Well, what do you think I should do about Fang?" I asked, my voice dropping back to its lower octave that was apparently more appropriate for somber conversation.

Iggy looked at me for a while, "I think he needs his space, but I also think he needs you. He needs someone to help him get everything off his chest, and I think you're the only one that can do that."

I nodded. I missed him. I wasn't used to being cut out and ignored, but at least now I understood it wasn't directed at me. There was a lot of built up anger and guilt and pain, but he really just needed someone to be with him until he was ready to work through it.

"Thanks for everything, Ig," I said as I finished drying the last plate he washed from the sink. "I think I'm going to try to go see Fang. It's been a while."

He nodded. I surprised him, and even myself a bit, by wrapping my arms around him in a big hug. His arms were slack at first, but quickly tightened around my back.

I grabbed my jacket and headed out front, "I'll be anxiously awaiting your invitation to Ella for this romantic dinner you have planned."

He rolled his eyes and closed the door behind me as I began the walk home.


	12. Chapter 12

As I walked down the brick path to the Ride's front door, I noticed how immaculate the yard was. Not a single blade of grass was out of place and the landscaping was impeccable. It seemed odd to invest so much energy in the precision of the yard, but Fang said it was his dad's outlet.

The wood was rough on my knuckles as I knocked on the door.

"Max!" Angel's blonde head bounced up and down and her eyes sparkled as she opened the door for me. "You haven't been here in so long! I missed you!"

"I missed you too, cutie," I said picking her up. She wrapped her arms around my neck while planting a very sticky kiss on my forehead which I pretended to enjoy. "How've you been doing lately? I'm really out of the loop of Angel World."

She shrugged, and I noticed the sparkle instantly left her eyes, "It's been okay. Fang won't play with me and he's really sad all the time."

"Do you know why he's sad?"

She shook her head from side to side. Two years ago, Angel would've been four and even if she remembered the accident, it was unlikely she really processed what had happened. But then again, Angel had always seemed fairly intuitive. "Is that why you're here? To make Fang happy?"

"I'm gonna do my best," I said and tried for a bright smile, but I'm pretty sure it came out as a rather unpleasant grimace.

"I thought I heard voices," a warm voice called. A moment later, Mrs. Ride entered the room and wrapped me in a hug which was slightly unusual, but I understood after one look at her eyes. Her brown eyes normally danced in the light like water reflecting off a medallion, but today they just looked defeated. She dropped her voice, "Thank you for coming."

I nodded and tried to offer her a smile.

"Why don't you help me set the dinner table, sweetie? Can you get silverware for everyone?" She asked turning towards Angel.

Angel gave a name-worthy angelic grin before floating out of the room to follow her mother's request. I can only imagine how ecstatic my mother would be if Ella or I ever followed an order that peacefully.

"Fang won't leave his room. He barely eats meals; he's been skipping classes. He hardly speaks to anyone, and even Angel can't cheer him up at all. I'm really worried for him, but if there's anyone that can help him get through this, it's you." She gave me another hug with her arms wrapped tightly around me, and I could feel how much anxiety she had been holding in about Fang.

"I'll do my best. We all really miss him."

I tried to step lightly as I made my way upstairs, but each step seemed to creak under my weight. I turned to the end of the hallway to the corner bedroom and knocked softly on the deep brown mahogany door.

"Go away," said a muffled voice.

"Fang? It's me." I pushed the door open slowly and peered into the once beautiful and grandiose bedroom. The blinds were pulled down blocking even the brightest rays of sun from entering the room. Ski medals, photographs and certificates were scattered across the floor and the books that were normally stacked perfectly in line based on series, genre and height were strewn across his desk and the foot of the bed although none of them looked as though he was reading it. A few pairs of black jeans and T-shirts were covering the hardwood.

I shifted my gaze and saw Fang's normally tanned face looking unusually pale from where he sat stiffly at the foot of his bed, his feet dangling over a few shredded photographs on the floor.

"Can I come in?" He didn't respond, so I took his silence as non-threatening and propped myself onto the bed next to him.

For the first time in the almost a year that I knew Fang, I was at a loss for words. I knew he wouldn't want to talk, but he clearly needed to.

Might as well break the ice in typical Maximum Martinez fashion. "You look like shit, Fang."

He turned towards me finally and the ghost of a smile played across his lips, but he didn't say anything.

"We miss you, Fang." He turned towards me again, " _I_ really miss you."

He nodded, the gold specks in his eyes didn't seem to light up today, rather they appeared to have melded into a deep chestnut reflecting his grief. I slid my hand over to his and cupped it in mine.

Thankfully, he didn't rip his hand free and I quickly felt the pressure tighten where his fingers were wrapped. I don't know how long we sat like that, but it was a long time. After a fair amount of comfortable silence, I released his hand from mine. Even as I let go, his touch lingered across my palm and wrist as he took his time letting go. I raised the blinds as the rays from a radiant sunset filled the room automatically brightening the mood. The soft orange light basked over Fang's pale face and emphasized the sharpness of his features. I began stacking up the books from the ground and sliding them back into their assigned places on the bookshelf. As I was sliding _Catch 22_ into its spot, a torn photo fluttered to the ground that caught my attention.

A young girl with dark red waves that cascaded down her back was smiling up at the camera with her light brown eyes that had a hint of sparkling green. Freckles covered her nose, and she would have looked much older than she was except for the braces taking up most of her smile. She was wearing a white T-shirt from some ski company and a rogue hand was resting on her shoulder, but the rest of the body had been ripped off most likely by Fang months ago. I piled the rest of the books up from the floor and then returned to the bed.

"Is this Lily?" I asked softly. He stared at the picture, his eyes tracing each detail of her face as he travelled down her body.

"Yeah." His voice was coarse, ragged and so quiet I had barely heard it despite watching his lips move.

"Fang, I am so sorry." My eyes met his which were a mixture of emotions I struggled to decipher. There was obviously grief, a hard edge that I recognized as anger and something else that I couldn't quite interpret though it looked slightly relieved. "Do you…do you want to talk about anything?"

His voice was still coarse but audible this time. "What else is there to talk about? Lily's dead and I may as well have been sentenced for murder."

"What? Fang, you can't hold yourself responsible for this. This isn't your fault."

"Yeah well, if I had never taken up ski racing in the first place, Lily would still be here. If I hadn't argued with her about everything, Lily would still be here. If I hadn't gone to the race, Lily would still be here." His voice had risen to a yell and it echoed around the room.

I gaped at him, unsure of my next move. He was angry, grieving and riddled with guilt.

"Max," his voice dropped suddenly to a whisper. "It's my fault. Without me, Lily Jefferson would still be alive. She was fifteen years old. She never got to drive a car. She never got to go to prom. She never got to graduate high school." His hands were running wild through his hair and his eyes were so electrified, I had never seen him like this before. Well, I had never seen anyone like this before.

"Fang," I said softly placing both of my hands on his shoulders. "You have to listen to me: this is not your fault. Lily's death was a tragic accident. You have to understand that."

He had lowered his hands to his side and he was staring at me with such intensity, I couldn't even tell if I was getting through to him.

I was nearly begging at this point, "Please. I love you." I rushed on, "We all love you, and we really miss you. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to be there and what you're going through now, but it's over."

"It's not over," his voice was no longer coarse. "Every time I close my eyes, she's there. I can't stop picturing it. It's like watching a DVD that was scratched and the same 10 seconds just replays over and over in my head."

Whether it was intentional or not, Fang had stepped closer to me and we were now inches apart, eyes wide staring at each other. Feeling stupid, I quickly dropped my arms back to my sides. I could feel his breath tickling the tip of my nose as his dark eyes travelled down to mine. I stepped back and sat down on the edge of his bed.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a torn photo of Fang missing an arm as he gave a forced smirk to the camera. I snatched up the picture and grabbed its other half from the bed and quickly taped the two together before taking a second to admire my handiwork.

"Here. This is how I want you to remember her. Perfect, happy and whole."

His fingertips grazed my palm as he took the picture and stared at it and a small smile finally formed on his face.

"That's what I'm talking about," I said with a grin.

"Thanks Max," his voice was soft yet packed with emotion.

I sat back down on the bed next to him, leaning into his side until my head rested comfortably on his shoulder.

He set the picture down behind him, and we watched the sun slowly disappear as dark a dark red hue blended seamlessly into the midnight sky with stars beginning to shine. Time seemed to stand still as I watched the stars come out through the glass and as I felt the rhythmic rise and fall of Fang's shoulders with each breath.

After gazing at the craters of the perfectly crescent moon, Fang agreed to eat dinner. 30 minutes later we were splitting a deceivingly delicious frozen pizza, chips and guac. The dinner of champions.

Fang seemed to be getting back to his old self as he dramatically rolled his eyes at me inhaling my fourth slice of pizza.

"So," I said after polishing off another slice, "want to make a bet on how long it takes Iggy to ask Ella out on a date?"

"I give it three days,"

I raised my eyebrows. "That's awfully ambitious for someone who refused to reveal his feelings for her to me today."

Fang shook his head, "The fact that he told you means he's bound to ask her out sooner rather than later because he knows if he doesn't do it quick, you'll tell her and take away his 'mysterious romance' as he called it."

"20 bucks says he asks her out after three days but in less than two weeks."

He wrinkled his brow, "This seems like an unfair bet. My time window is only three days, but you get a window of 11 days?"

"You snooze you lose," I said with a bright grin. "You better mow a few yards to save up for that $20 you're gonna owe me in exactly fourteen days."

"You know, I think I may have enough pocket change lying around to cover this bet," a competitive smirk sliding onto his face.

"You're on," I said, and he held out his hand and we shook on it. I felt tingles run up and down my hand where he had touched me and immediately felt a knot rise in my stomach. "Well, I should probably get going. It's getting late."

He nodded while his dark eyes scanned over my face, his colorless pupils moving side to side.

"Are we still on to see everyone this weekend? Everyone really misses you."

He gave me a soft smile and nodded again.

"See you, Max."

He walked me out to the sidewalk, and I didn't give him the satisfaction of turning around, but I felt his eyes following me as I made my way down the block and around the corner until I was out of sight.

 **Sorry for the delay in the past couple of chapters! Huge thank you to anyone who has reviewed so far, and I would love some more reviews. Any advice, constructive criticism, questions, support and suggestions are always welcome!**


	13. Chapter 13

Nudge's high-pitched shriek filled the air causing a few heads to turn, but most ignored her as she erupted in laughter.

"Nudge," Iggy groaned from where he was sprawled face down in the sand. "You're disrupting my tan."

"You don't tan," I said smirking at his skin so pale it could, and sometimes did, reflect the sun.

"You're just jealous you don't emit a pearly glow like me, Maxie."

I rolled my eyes before leaning back on the beach towel I was sharing with Fang who was doing much better and had rejoined the group, resumed spending time with his family and had gotten absurdly tan in the three weeks that school had been out. He would occasionally grow distant or quiet, but would snap out of it pretty quick when we started talking to him.

"How are you so tan?" I muttered.

"It's a gift," he responded. He looked so peaceful with his eyes closed and mouth turned up slightly in the sun's gentle rays.

"It's unnatural is what it is. Have you ever even worn sunscreen?"

"Maybe once on a very rare occasion. Like SPF 2. Worked wonders."

"You could borrow some from Iggy then, I'm sure he's got plenty for all of us."

"Speaking of sunscreen," Ella piped up, "can I borrow some Ig?"

"Sure," he said sitting up a little too enthusiastically. He tried to play it cool by running a hand through his strawberry blond hair as he reached into his backpack to pull out a variety of sun protectant. "Lotion or spray?"

"Lotion," she said tossing her long dark hair behind her shoulders. "Do you mind putting some on my neck, back and shoulders?"

"Oh um, yeah. No problem." Iggy slid over to wear she was seated and started applying the lotion.

Fang shot me a grin. "I hope you've got your $20 ready for me, it looks like someone will be going on a date very soon."

I rolled my eyes, "You're basing this off of rubbing sunscreen onto her back?"

He nodded intently.

"Saucy," I said with a smirk. Surprisingly enough though, I could spot goosebumps on Ella's shoulders from here and I could guarantee you that they were not from the weather.

Although I adored my little sister, well on occasion, and her potential relationship with Iggy, I did not want to be part of a world where Fang was right. They just needed to wait three days and then they could rub as much sunscreen on each other as they wanted.

Fang must've been reading my thoughts because he suddenly jumped up: "Come on, let's go swim."

"You just wanted to give the lovebirds some time to themselves."

"Maybe," he said mischievously. "Or maybe, I wanted to see how you hold up against swimming with fish!"

I stopped dead in my tracks, "What?"

Fang grinned at me – a rare, sun-stopping grin that caught me off guard. He laughed, "The fish don't bite, I promise. The piranhas only come out if they smell blood."

"That's not funny!" I responded following him anyway as he edged his way towards the water. "Fish are so unnatural."

"You drank a Mountain Dew on the way up here and you're calling fish, one of your most ancient relatives, unnatural?"

"At least my Mountain Dew doesn't breathe underwater or eat worms."

Fang just stared at me and shook his head laughing. "Fish are friends."

He watched me stare hesitantly at the water as my eyes scanned below the surface for anything that moved. I wasn't lying – I had an absurd fear of fish that must've stemmed from a nightmare when I was little because I have no rational reason to be afraid of fish besides the fact that I choked on a fish bone once. Once I deemed the first foot of water offshore to be fish free, I stepped into the water and the chill was refreshing.

However, apparently the thrill of standing in water that splashed just above our ankles wasn't enough of a thrill for Fang. "Come on," he said and took a few steps away from shore. I, on the other hand, did not follow him. He laughed again and it was such a pretty sound that I was never used to hearing, "Max, I promise there's no piranhas in the water. There's hardly any fish in here anyway. You have to get out deep enough for the fish because there's nothing to eat here, see? Just sand. Maybe a few rocks. Fish need algae and other plants to live, but there's too much movement along the shore for plant growth, so the fish hardly ever come to shore."

"Who's the nerd now?" I asked with a snicker but did not make any grand movements toward him. Finally, he just reached out his hand and grabbed hold of mine softly. I could feel the grooves from where his hands had been in the water even for just a moment. "Come on," he said quietly. "You trust me, right?"

I nodded and finally gave in to his incessant demands and followed him as he led me into shoulder deep water.

"Nice, huh? The water's so clear you can see your toes." He wiggled his toes aggressively and much to my surprise, his toes were easily visible.

"How can you swim fearlessly in oceans but not in lakes? Oceans are so much more dangerous."

I shrugged, "There's never any gross or scary movie footage of people dying from giant fish in the ocean."

"But that happens in lakes?" He asked mock confusion etched across his face.

Rather than think of a witty comment, which happens to be very draining let me tell you, I did the mature and ladylike thing. I splashed water in his face managing to perfectly submerge his perfectly styled hair completely in the water.

"Hey!" He protested.

"You were the one that brought me out here, you deserve it," I said laughing. "Besides you look like a wet dog."

He glared at me from beneath his long hair, but the golden specks in his eyes danced in the sunlight all the same. "So much for a calm, relaxing day at the beach."

"If you thought be bringing me to a beach would be relaxing, you were sorely mistaken," I said with a smirk.

"I don't think there's anywhere on this Earth I could bring you that would be relaxing, Max," he said with a sigh.

I flashed him a cheeky grin. "Bet I can swim to that orange buoy faster than you," I said pointing to an orange blob floating about 200 yards away from us.

"You wish," Fang said with the devilish gleam he always got when challenged to something. "Okay, ready, set –"

Before Fang had finished counting off, I arched my back and kicked off from the sandy bottom of the lake. I heard Fang yell my name, but it was muffled as I kept my head submerged under water. I liked to pretend I was an incredible swimmer, but the truth was I swam on the sixth-grade swim team but was stung by a bee when I was lined up on the podium, so naturally I quit. It totally didn't have anything to do with the fact that I hadn't finished a race in anything but second to last all season.

I could feel my lungs start to burn and tighten, but I kept pulling my arms through the water and letting my body drag behind. Suddenly, I felt a stream of bubbles on my left side; as I looked over, Fang flashed me a one-handed thumbs up. A few seconds later, I was spluttering gasping for air glaring at Fang who had an olive-skinned arm casually draped around the buoy.

"Looks like I won despite your blatant cheating," Fang said casually while treading water.

"Um what?" I asked.

"You started early!"

"No way!" I protested. "Everyone knows you're supposed to start on 'go'."

"You were halfway there when I said 'go'!" He exclaimed.

"So – so what!" I spluttered.

"So," Fang said flashing a show-stopping grin, "I win!"

I opened my mouth to retort, but was interrupted by a beaming Nudge who splashed her way over to us.

"What are you two doing way out here alone?" Nudge asked, but streamlined ahead without waiting for us to answer. "Never mind, never mind. I have _huge_ news. _Huge._ Iggy likes Ella!" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively as she spun back towards the beach to see Iggy and Ella earnestly talking. "Wait. Why are you guys not acting surprised? Did you already know? And you didn't tell me!"

"Sorry, Nudge," I told her sympathetically. "Fang's known for a while. And then I got it out of Iggy a few weeks ago."

Fang snorted.

"Yes?" I asked turning on him.

"You didn't coax it out of Iggy, I may as well have just told you," he said with a smirk.

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"My goodness, how can you two spend any time together? Doesn't all of the arguing drive you crazy?"

Fang and I looked at each other and just laughed. Our friendship would undoubtedly be much different, and probably easier, if we didn't bicker constantly.

"Besides! The important thing is that Iggy is in love with Ella."

"Love might be a bit strong," I muttered but Nudge ignored me. "What about Ella? How does she feel about Iggy?"

"You don't know?" Nudge asked incredulous. "You're her sister!"

"Um yeah, but she doesn't talk to me about this stuff. That's what you're for," I prompted.

"Oh," she said seemingly confused. "Well, anyway, Ella is totally into Iggy! Yay!"

"So," Fang said speaking up for the first time. "Are they gonna get together?"

Nudge nodded vigorously.

"Sometime today?" He pressed.

"I hope so!" Nudge was ecstatic about two of her best friends kindling a romance. "Wait, why are you so interested?"

"Oh, no reason," he added mildly.

"I think they should wait. They don't want to rush anything. Maybe take it slow and see what happens," I chimed in hoping to sway Nudge to convince Ella to push her relationship off with Iggy.

Nudge scanned our faces, her deep eyes jumping between us. "Did you guys make a bet!" We exchanged glanced, "You did make a bet!"

I sighed, "If Ella and Iggy wait to get together, I get $20."

"But," Fang added, "if they get together today, I make 20 of Max's precious dollars."

"You two are ridiculous! Can't you two just be happy for your friends getting together?" Suddenly, Nudge clapped a hand over her mouth. "Well Fang, it looks like it's your lucky day."

"Yes," Fang crooned.

I looked over at the beach and saw Iggy and Ella walking hand in hand down the beach with the brightest grin plastered across Ella's face.

"Look who won again, Max," Fang said standing above me as we made it back to the beach.

"Who says they're even together. They could just be friends holding hands," I tried knowing my argument was weak.

"Yeah?" His eyebrows were raised as he watched Ella plant a kiss on Iggy's cheek. "Maybe not.

"Fine," I said shoving him playfully. "You can have your money when we get back."

"Works for me," he said as he wrapped his arm around my wet shoulders.

"Max?" A voice that sounded vaguely familiar called. I spun around and was greeted by a tall, broad-shouldered tan figure.

"Ryan?" I asked unable to believe my eyes. I felt Fang's arm tighten around my shoulders as Ryan approached brushing his light brown hair out of his eyes.

"Wow, Max! It's great to see you. How've you been?"

I felt Fang's fingertips lingering on my shoulder as I stepped out to give Ryan a hug.

"I've been good. Well, great really," I said stepping back next to Fang.

"Oh, are you two…?" He trailed off looking between Fang and me.

"Oh, no, we're just friends," I said smirking at Fang. If I had a nickel for every time someone asked if we were together including all the jibes from our friends, I would have at least enough to buy myself a nice Apple Watch. "Fang, this is my friend Ryan from Arizona. Ryan, this is my friend Fang."

"Best friend," he muttered under his breath as they shook hands.

"So," I exclaimed hoping to break the slight tension. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for the summer. In Colorado. My brother goes to Boulder, and he got a house and a job for the summer, so that he can get in-state tuition." He shrugged, "I thought it might be a nice change of scenery and nice way to escape the heat at least." He grinned brightly. "I'd love to meet the rest of your friends and spend some time with you this summer. We really miss you down in Arizona."

"I miss you guys too," I said softly. "Don't get me wrong, I love it here," I said catching Fang's eye and I could see tension leave his gaze. "But I would love to catch up sometime Ryan. Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone."

We walked over to where everyone else was sitting. "Guys, this is my friend Ryan from Arizona. He was down the beach and it turns out he's here for the summer."

"Ryan, hi!" Ella jumped up and gave him a hug. "I feel like it's been forever." I smiled to myself as I watched Iggy look Ryan up and down as Ella pulled back. His gaze lingered over his muscular chest and bright smile.

"Ryan, this is Iggy," I said gesturing to Iggy who had his arm draped protectively over Ella who seemed perfectly content and merely nodded up at Ryan. "And–"

"I'm Nudge," she said jumping up as Ryan approached. She smiled up at him brightly and pushed her long hair behind her ears. "It's so nice to meet you. I'm sure you'll love it here this summer."

He gave her a quick smile before turning back to me. "I'll grab my towel and stuff and come join you guys."

I nodded and sat back down in the sand welcoming the hot rays that were hopefully tanning my body.

"Um, Max?" Nudge asked her eyes wide. "Who is that?"

"I told you – he's my old friend from Arizona."

"Uh, he's beautiful," she said watching him traipse down the beach to where his towel and bag lay in the distance. "His eyes literally sparkle in the sunlight, and the freckles sprinkled across his nose. And did you see his six-pack! Talk about the perfect man."

Iggy and Fang both rounded on Nudge, and she quickly added on, "Well after you two of course."

"I thought you were hung up on Derek?" I asked staring off in the direction that Ryan had left.

Nudge shrugged, "I was tired of waiting around for him to figure out what he wants. Besides, so many girls are into him, it's not like I'm the first in line."

"Derek loves you Nudge, I'm sure if you talked about it with him, it would help you both out," Ella told her gently. "But if you want to try to start things up with Ryan, you could have a summer fling," she added with a wink.

"Oh no, I don't want to get in the way of anything between Ryan and Max," she said quickly.

"What?" I spluttered.

Nudge just looked at me and shook her head. Iggy and Ella looked intrigued and watched Nudge curiously. Fang on the other hand stared off at the water with his jaw set.

"There's nothing to get in the way of, Nudge. He's entirely yours. I don't –"

"You're not talking about me, are you?" Ryan asked after approaching out of nowhere.

"Oh, no we were just joking around," I said with a chuckle hoping to laugh it off.

"Alright, well if you change your mind and decide you want to go on a date, I'll leave an open offer," he said light-heartedly, and I just laughed hoping that someone would change the subject.

Thankfully, Iggy came to the rescue for once. "So, what does your brother study over at Boulder?"

Ryan plopped down on the towel next to Iggy and explained that we wanted to go into aeronautical engineering. Apparently, Iggy was fascinated by whatever that was or at least pretended to be, so the two of them were engaged in conversation. I pretended to listen and nodded every once and a while to seem like I was being attentive, but my mind was wandering all over the place.

I watched Nudge slide onto the towel next to Fang and start talking to him. Without meaning to, well without meaning to entirely, I began picking up on parts of their conversation. "Fang, it's not healthy to keep everything bottled up like this," I could hear Nudge saying. "You're just making it harder for the two of you. Besides, you can't get upset when other guys start talking to her or even potentially dating her if you never tell her how you feel, let alone yourself."

"I don't know, Nudge. I don't even know how I feel," he said softly, his eyes still locked on something in the distance.

"I think you know how you feel, you just can't admit it to yourself."

"Maybe, but I don't know if I'm ready. Besides, she's already got a line of suitors waiting for her."

"Yeah, but she doesn't want any of them, Fang. She's waiting for you! She doesn't know it, or at least won't acknowledge it, but I know it's true."

Fang shrugged staying quiet.

"But, I also think that pretty soon, she's going to get tired of waiting. I'm not saying it'll be tomorrow, but guys are going to keep hitting on her and soon enough, she's going to go on a date with someone, and I know that would kill you. I don't want to see you get hurt again."

"So what are you saying I should do?" He asked turning towards Nudge, and his eyes that were normally so hardened and even steely were full of emotion, full of desperation.

"I think you should –"

"Max," Ryan said directing the conversation back to me. "I can't believe I haven't seen you in year. I really would like to grab coffee or lunch and hear about your year here."

I nodded absently, not really paying attention to what he was saying, "Sure, I'd love to."

"Great," another smile. Man, they should really put him in the Trident commercials. "It's a date."

Suddenly, I was fully focused on the conversation I was having with Ryan. Did I just plan to go on a date with him? Was going out for coffee considered a date? Was lunch? Since when was I going on dates over the summer?

I briefly heard Nudge mutter, "See?" to Fang.

After we watched the sun fade into a brilliantly pink and red sky, we packed up the car and began the drive home. Fang, who was sitting shotgun, sat in a stony silence for most of the ride and I was afraid I knew why. I wasn't sure if my best bet was to confront him, to blow off my plans with Ryan or just ignore it and hoped he could move on. I decided on none of the above and planned to push it off until later. This was a conversation for a day without a beautiful sun-streaked sky and one that gave Fang at least a few hours to cool down.

 **Heyo, here's the next chapter. Please let me know what you're thinking. All feedback and comments are welcome as well as any suggestions or ideas.**


	14. Chapter 14

I couldn't help the smile that split across my face as I stood on the edge of the trail, overlooking Beaver Lake which had never been so still. My breath was still heavy from my run but began returning to normal after a few minutes as I stared in wonder at so much natural beauty.

I pulled off my running backpack and grabbed my hammock. It was the most peaceful thing – floating in the air, eyes closed, hair blowing in the breeze. It was like flying without actually moving.I got my hammock set up as high I could, climbed up the lower branches of the tree and hopped in sighing audibly as I laid back.

It was serenely quiet and still with only the birds chirping and the wind rustling through the leaves.

Suddenly, a twig snapped.

I bolted up and sat in silence – all of my senses on hyper-alert. A million thoughts started racing through my head: Was it an animal? If it was an animal then it must be a bear or moose or something heavy to cause that much noise. Was it Fang? He was the only person who knew I liked to spend time out here, but it couldn't be him. He was watching Angel all day; besides, Fang could move without a sound, blending into the shadows and becoming part of his surroundings. It was eerie how he could be completely invisible at times.

"Hello?" I called forcing my voice to come out as more confident and less unnerved than I was.

"Max?" A familiar voice called.

"Ryan?" I asked. In my haste, I managed to get tangled up in the cloth and plummeted to the ground.

I heard him suppress a chuckle, "Are you okay?"

I brushed some dust off my hands and knees where a I had so gracefully landed. "Never better. What are you doing out here? No one else knows about this place besides Fang."

He shrugged, "My brother's gone hiking around here and I guess he found this overlook one time. So, whatever happened to our plans to get coffee?"

I shrugged. In all honesty, I had forgotten about my agreement and Fang wasn't exactly keen on reminding me. It wasn't that I potentially blew him off.

"Well, we're both here. How about that?"

"Huh?"

Without another word, he hopped into my hammock. After my incident, the hammock was much closer to the ground, so he was able to just step right in. I smirked as the cloth sunk slightly under the added weight, but he just made himself comfortable.

"So," he said with his typical grin extending his feet out towards me. "This is cozy."

"You could say that," I said with a chuckle as his feet were inches from my hands. "It's a good thing you're wearing socks."

"What? You don't like my feet!" He asked wiggling his toes and reaching them towards my face.

I laughed as I leaned away. Feet are gross, I don't care what you say. "You remind me of my friend Iggy."

"Is he the one that doesn't like me?" He asked bringing his feet back.

I smirked, "I can't say either of them were in love with you."

"They weren't exactly thrilled. Can you tell me why?"

"Iggy just started dating my sister, so he's all protective lately. Believe me, it's not you. It's any guy that is taller and more muscular than him. It's an ego thing I guess. I'm sure if you hung out he'd get over pretty quick. He's not one for holding grudges."

"What about the other guy? With the dark hair. Strong and silent type," he prodded.

"That's Fang."

"Are you guys a thing?" I opened my mouth to interject, but he cut me off. "I know you said you weren't dating, but he definitely did not like me. I'm not an idiot, Max." I felt his piercing green eyes penetrating me in the same way Fang's did.

"No, really. We're just really good friends. He just likes things the way they are."

He raised his eyebrows, but didn't seem convinced. "So, if I asked you out in a date…"

I felt my stomach twist and tie itself into a great big knot. I had no idea what I wanted – I felt like I was stuck in a limbo: my head wanted one thing, but my heart wanted another.

"This awkward silence is nice. Just some awkward asexual tension," Ryan said and I had to refrain from rolling my eyes. He and Iggy would hit it off instantly.

"Look, it's not that I don't like you and you're such a nice guy…it's just that I don't want to lose you as a friend," I said. Even I could hear the fake sincerity in my voice.

He rolled his eyes, "Okay, even I know that's garbage, Max. That's the biggest line in the book: 'I don't want to lose you as a friend.'l

"You're so annoying," I muttered.

"You're so easy to read," he said and a hint of his brilliant smile played at the corners of his mouth.

"Fine," I said with a scowl and shifted my gaze to the ground. "I just don't know how I feel."

"About Fang?" He asked. The light reflected off of his green eyes, and brought out a hint of blue and a deep brown that hadn't been visible before. He took my silence as a yes. I was finally starting to admit to myself that I may have some "feelings" for Fang especially after what I overheard between Fang and Nudge. Not that I had bothered to confront either of them about it. "Okay. I have an idea. Go on a date with me." I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off. "Go on a date with me. If you feel weird about it, it means you have feelings for Fang. If you don't feel weird about it, then we go on a second date. No hard feelings. Honest, Max."

I looked up into his expectant stare. I hated to admit it, but this actually seemed like a decent plan. It would at least help me figure out where my head and my heart were. Even better, it might help Fang figure out the same thing.

"Oh my gosh, Max you look SO good!" Ella exclaimed. She had ruthlessly cornered me and demanded to know where I was and when I finally caved and told her about Ryan, she insisted she be the head of the committee for clothes, hair, makeup and shoes for our "date". Why there was a whole committee necessary for dressing me for a not-real date was beyond me, but I also didn't care enough to ask.

"Shoes!" Nudge yelled from where she was buried knee-deep in Ella's walk-in closet.

"Why can't I just wear my converse?" I groaned. Of course Nudge was on the Fake-Date-Committee as well which meant that I had undergone a painful 20 minutes while she applied copious amounts of makeup to my skin. Okay, copious might be overdoing it but for me, mascara and lipstick were more than enough.

"Because Max," she said sounding very authoritative in her new role, "we don't want Ryan to think you're homeless."

Rather that fight her again, I just rolled my eyes and followed her voice to where she was throwing a pair of what I can only describe as Jesus-sandals at me. "These are perfect. Very trendy. Very in. He'll love it."

"And your jacket!" Ella called handing me a short light green jacket that wasn't horrible.

"It's the end of July, Ella. I don't need a jacket," I muttered.

"Who's in charge of the fashion committee?" She retorted. Yeah, I'm out.

"As enjoyable as this has been, and as enjoyable I'm sure this evening will be, I am leaving."

"How do you think Fang will take it?" I heard Ella ask Nudge in what she thought was a whisper, but what was actually in a voice loud enough for the neighbors to hear.

I tried tuning them out as I walked down the porch to where Ryan was parked, but heard Nudge mutter something about him taking it really well. Shocking, I know.

"You look nice, Max," Ryan said as I slid into the passenger seat.

"Thanks," I said grinning at him. "Did you blow dry and style your hair?"

He gave me his characteristic Trident-worthy smile, "It didn't dry well after my shower, so I was left no choice. But don't worry, I borrowed my brothers girlfriend's blow dryer."

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help smiling. He was so good-natures about everything and never took anything too seriously. "Well, it looks very nice. Maybe you could switch gears and become a professional hair dryer. Seems to suit you."

"It's a gift. If you ever want your hair professionally dried, you know who to call. I'll even give you the friends and family discount!"

"Wow, I'm touched. Ill send Ella and Nudge your way. You'll have yourself a couple of regulars in instantly."

"I'm sure Iggy would be thrilled to hear that," he said sounding slightly more serious.

I shrugged, "I really think you two would get along. The first day you met him was literally maybe an hour after he started dating Ella. He's normally not like that."

"Alright, I'll take your word on that. Anyway, we're just about there. I figured you weren't looking for something that fancy, and I know you're not exactly the clubbing type."

"We're 16, Ryan. Where on Earth would we go clubbing?"

"A kid can dream, can't he?"

I rolled myself eyes again. Geez, I would be turning into Fang soon if I kept that up.

"So, I thought it would be fun to see a Ukrainian film! It's all in Ukrainian, but there's English subtitles, so we should be able to keep up. It sounds great! A young Ukrainian boy goes on a quest to discover his family history, so he spends 8 years reading ancestry books in the library. Thrilling, right?"

I stared at him. A Ukrainian film? Thrilling? I didn't want to be myself and be blatantly rude because it had been a long time since Ryan and I had hung out together. Maybe it had been a long time since he had seen a movie at all. Maybe he'd never seen a movie before. If this was his idea of fun, he had clearly never been on a date before.

He stared at me expectantly and all I could offer was an attempted smile, that I'm pretty sure turned into a grimace halfway through.

Finally, he burst out laughing. "Oh, Max you should've seen your face! As if I would ever go to a movie where I had to read. I get enough of that from books." He shook his head still chuckling at his wit.

"A Ukrainian film? Really? I'd rather go to the dentist," I muttered laughing along with him. What a relief.

"Seriously, the dentist?" He asked slowing down.

I shrugged, "At least I get a free toothbrush out of it."

"Touché," he said with a smirk and pulled into a parking lot. "Well, since you shot down my true passion, I figured we'd try this. They're high-speed Go-Karts."

"No way," I exclaimed jumping out of the car and gracefully whacking my head on the ceiling on my way. "This is sick! I've always wanted to try these."

"Well, I'm glad you're finally tall enough," he said gesturing at the sign as we made our way past the gate.

I shoved him as we passed the sign requiring all participants to be at least 54" tall. "C'mon!"

The crew got our basic information, fitted us for helmets and then explained the basic controls.

"Right is gas, left is brake."

"Could you, uh, write that down for me?" Ryan asked with such a genuine look of confusion I almost believed him.

The guy looked alarmed, "Didn't you drive here?"

Ryan nodded, "Yeah, but I left my cheat sheet in the car."

The guy gave him a funny look and his eyes widened remarkably.

"I'm just messing," he said giving the guy a good-natured pat on the shoulder. The guy laughed, gave us a bit of a weird look then led us to our carts.

"Alright," he called once we were all belted in. "When the light is green, you're all set to go! Have fun!" He must've seen the glee in my face because he called out after us, "And be careful please!"

Once the green light flashed, I hit the petal to the metal and flew out of the gates. To my surprise, Ryan was right next to me.

"All the wind is messing up your hair," I called as we went up a gentle hill.

"Win some, lose most," he called back and then accelerated past me cutting the curb close on the hairpin turn.

I pressed my foot down even more and caught up to his red cart before giving him a sly grin and passing him on his left. "So long, sucker!" I called.

The next 45 minutes flew by as we rounded turns, ascended and descended built-in hills. The dorky guy came back out, waved his white flag and called us in. Unfortunately, our hour was up.

"So," I said as we headed back to his car, "that was really fun."

"I feel so alive," he said running a hand through his windswept hair. It surprisingly still looked perfect even though it had been ravaged by the wind.

I was still exhilarated when we reached the car and my heart was still pumping rapidly as we approached The Cone – a timeless ice cream hut just outside town. I call it a hut because there's simply no other way to describe it.

"I'll have a double scoop of Mint Chocolate chip and whatever she's having," he said gesturing to me as he pulled out a wad of cash.

"Oh hi, Sydney. Can I get a double scoop of Raspberry sorbet and Triple Chocolate Chunk?"

Sydney, a girl who I had been forced to do a history project with when Mr. Davis had grown irritate with the antics that would undoubtedly happen between Fang and J, wrinkled her nose but nodded, "You do you, Max."

I grabbed my waffle cone and sat on the bench next to Ryan who eyed me skeptically. I was used to looks from Lissa and her squad of sluts in the cafeteria when I ate anything more than a singular carrot.

"I'm hungry, okay?" I said sounding much more defensive than I had intended.

"I'm not judging how much you're eating; I'm judging what you're eating. Please, enlighten me. How is raspberry sorbet and Triple chocolate death or whatever it's called a food combo?"

I shrugged, "I don't make the rules of the universe, Ryan."

He chuckled and took a bite of his ice cream. Yeah, you heard me right. He took a bite of his ice cream. With his teeth.

I gaped at him.

"What?" He asked, his eyes wide.

"What kind of monster was ice cream like that? Doesn't it hurt your teeth?"

He laughed. "I'm telling you Max; I'm no mere mortal. I have gifts from God that I can't control."

"Whatever you say, you weirdo," I grinned at him and felt surprisingly peaceful as we watched the sun set behind the mountains in front of us. It was hard not to be content in a place like this. But despite how well everything was going, so I felt weird. Was it guilt? Confusion? Ryan was incredible, why didn't it feel right?

We talked for a while more, and then we headed back so Ryan could drop me off. I got out of the car, and was surprised when Ryan joined me as I walked to the door.

"So…"

"So," I replied already dreading this conversation. He raised his eyebrows expectantly, and I decided the truth would be the best. "I…I just don't know still. I'm sorry."

"Maybe this will change your mind," he said softly taking a step closer. Before I knew what his happening, his hand had slid behind my ear and through my unusually silky hair and his lips were on mine. He angled his head to kiss me better and slid his other hand behind my back. I let my hands fall on his chest. A few moments later, he pulled back.

"Well?"

Alright, here's your next chapter! Thanks to everyone who reviewed so far! Let me know how you're liking the story and this chapter in particular. Also send me your thoughts on who you think Max should end up with: Fang or Ryan…for the time being.


	15. Chapter 15

"Well?" Ryan asked again.

I looked up into his wide green eyes hating that I had to do this to him. "I'm sorry, Ryan, I really am. "I really like you, but –"

"Well, then no buts," the corners of his mouth turned into the hint of a smile.

"I don't know how to say this," I tried, but scowled at the pavement. This sounded so forced, so fake.

"Then don't," he said softly.

"But that's not fair," I started.

"Max, it's okay," he said grabbing my arm gently. "I get it. You don't feel it."

"I'm sorry," I repeated numbly. "I don't know why, it just doesn't feel right."

"I know why," he said looking at me funny. "It's because of Fang."

I opened my mouth to retort, but he cut me off again. He seemed to have a habit of doing that at exactly the right time. "You have feelings for Fang," he said bluntly. At the shocked look on my face, his smile softened. "It's not a big deal. We went on a date, we had fun – we can still be friends. Besides, I go back to Arizona at the end of the summer anyway."

"Friends?" I asked, and he nodded before wrapping me in a hug. "Well, I'll see you, Ryan. Thanks for tonight, I had a lot of fun."

"Me too," he said with his trademark smile, but there was a hollowness to his eyes. He gave me a wave as he headed back to his car and drove off.

"So, how was it?" Ella nearly shrieked the second I made it upstairs. "Tell me everything, everything."

I shrugged, "Not much to tell."

"No, no, no. Where did you go? What did you do? How was it? Did you kiss? Are you going to go out again? Did he compliment your outfit?" She rattled off jumping off her bed and bounding into my room.

"Can't I just sit in peace for a moment?"

"Sure! After you tell me everything. Max, this is huge! When was the last time you went on a date? Have you been on a date?"

"You're unbelievable," I muttered. "But if you must know, he took me to go Go-Karting and then we got ice cream. Look, he's really sweet and funny, but I don't think it's going to work out." I shrugged, "Sorry."

She plopped herself onto the bed next to me, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I had such a good time with Ryan – he was fun, easy to talk to and super good-natured."

"But," she prompted.

"But, it felt weird. It just didn't feel right," I said.

Surprised, I saw Ella smile. "Are you going to talk to him?"

"Who?"

"Fang!" She said exasperated.

"Look, Max. Don't interrupt me and don't deny this. We all know that you have feelings for Fang, and Fang has feelings for you. Can you two please just talk to each other about it? It would honestly make everyone else's lives significantly easier."

I wanted to protest but didn't see the point. Ella was right. I had to come to terms with my feelings that I was intentionally ignoring at this point. "Well, what do I even say?"

She shrugged, but her brown eyes were soft as she gave me a sympathetic smile. "Just tell him how your date went. Tell him you felt weird being out with someone else and you think you might know why. Just try to get him talking."

I rolled my eyes; she was beyond unhelpful.

"So," she said her voice light. "When are you gonna talk to him?"

I glanced at my watch, "Well it's already 10, so probably tomorrow morning."

"Geez, Max. What are you, 85 years old? Go talk to him now! His house is like six minutes away you can practically see it through your bedroom window."

"You're a pain in the ass, you know that Ella?"

She grinned cheekily, "It's my best and worst quality."

I took her advice and headed over to Fang's after he told me he was home. On the walk over, I kept replaying possible ways the conversation could go. He could look at me like I was crazy – tell me he never wanted to see me again. He could completely ignore me. He could tell me he had no feelings for me and didn't know if we could be friends after this. Each scenario was worse than the previous one.

Not wanting to wake Angel, I knocked softly on the door. A few seconds later, Fang opened the door and joined me on the front stoop.

"Hi," he said softly. "How was your date with Ryan?" He asked, avoiding meeting my gaze.

"It was fine," I said hoping this would not be as painfully awkward as I had imagined. Having this kind of talk was bad enough, but someone you spent 90% of your time with made it even weirder.

"Oh," he said looking up from the pavement.

"He was super nice, and we had fun, but it just didn't feel right…" I trailed off unsure of how to end it.

"Yeah?" His voice was soft, barely louder than a whisper.

"Yeah," I nodded, taking a step closer.

His dark eyes scanned over my face searching for answers – answers that I didn't even know. "Are you going to see him again? Another date?"

"No," I breathed, and he took a step closer so that I could feel his breath tickle my nose. "And I think I finally know why."

"I think I do too," his voice was barely audible. I met his gaze, and there was a fire burning that I had never seen lit in his eyes before. He mumbled something else, but I didn't catch it.

I was about to ask him something, but all thoughts were swept from my mind when Fang's lips came crashing on to mine. My hands were stuck in between us pressed against his chest, but I could feel each muscle move as he tilted his neck. I felt his hands slide up my back and rest there, holding me to him tightly like he would never let go. The kiss was fiery and passionate – a kiss to make up for all the times we almost did, the times we should have and all of the opportunities we missed in the past year.

Finally, I pulled back slowly taking in a deep breath. Whatever had just happened between us effectively changed the dynamic of our friendship and therefore my entire life. My gaze slid up meeting Fang's and the golden specks seemed to bounce around of their own accord with no light to trigger them.

"So," I said softly.

"That was one hell of a kiss," he whispered.

I nodded, feeling a smile break out across my face. Fang, who rarely smiled, had his rare smile etched onto his face – the one that made the Sun literally stop in its tracks. He leaned down and kissed me again, but this time it was soft, gentle and sweet.

He pulled back first this time leaving me yearning for more. "Well."

"Well what?"

"Well, do we want to talk about this?" He prodded.

Oh. "I mean honestly, I'd rather not."

Fang rolled his eyes, "So, what? We're just going to kiss occasionally and that will just be part of the contract as best friends?"

Now I was the one rolling my eyes. "Fine, your highness, what would you like to talk about?"

He shrugged, "The relationship."

"You're such a girl," I groaned.

The light in his eyes which normally resembled ink pools was immense. He grabbed my hand softly in both of his calloused ones and we sat down. "I just don't want it to be weird. Or to lose you as my friend."

I nodded feeling the weight of the world drop onto my chest. "So, you basically just kissed me twice and are now deciding it's better off to stay friends?" I asked trying to ignore the knot that formed in my throat causing my words to choke.

"No, no, no," he shook his head with his eyes wide. "All I'm saying is that maybe it's better for us if we keep 'us' a secret. From our parents, friends and especially Iggy."

"Oh." I suddenly felt foolish for my dramatic thinking moments earlier. "Spencer will know."

Fang shrugged again, "He probably already does. That kid's practically a psychic."

I laughed. "Well, what should we tell them? Ella knows I came over here and I won't get off easy tonight."

"Just tell them we didn't want to ruin our friendship. We didn't want to ruin the group dynamic."

I nodded – that wasn't even stretching the truth because at least for me, that was my biggest fear. "Done." I sighed, and leaned against Fang's shoulder, and he dropped my hand to wrap his arm around me and hold me against him.

Everything felt so peaceful. For the first time in my life, everything was falling into place. But I knew, especially with my luck, it would never last long.

"Make sure you don't tell your parents anything, otherwise they will definitely start limiting how much time we spend together. Especially on our own," I said watching his mom's shadow pacing upstairs through the curtains.

I could feel his chin rub against my head as he nodded, "They will probably put a swift end to our spontaneous sleepovers too."

"I should probably go in a few minutes or my mom and Ella will start imagining things," I said, but then realized everything they were likely imagining was no longer fictious.

"Probably all true," he muttered, and I smirked. If only they knew.

Fang walked me home, despite my heated protests that I was absolutely fine on my own, but dropped my hand when we were in sight of my house.

Much to my dismay and not at all surprise, Ella was waiting at the door and threw it open as I climbed up the stoop.

"So?" Ella asked the second I pushed the screen door open.

I knew I had to sell the whole 'still-just-friends' thing if I wanted Ella to buy it, so I knew I had to suppress my excitement and put on a mask of dismay.

I shrugged, keeping my eyes turned to the ground. "We talked about it for a while, and it just doesn't make sense for us to get together."

"Um, I'm sorry why would that be?" She asked clearly annoyed and I had to suppress the urge to laugh.

"Look, Ella. He's my best friend." Thankfully she ignored that and refrained from asking why she wasn't my best friend. "It would just be too weird for us and the group dynamic if we got together. The thought of losing Fang as a friend is much worse than accepting the reality that we shouldn't date each other. Besides, everyone breaks up eventually. It's not like we're going to get married."

Ella looked at me glumly with her eyes wide and mouth in an uncharacteristic frown. "I'm really sorry, Max. I had hoped that it would work out for you guys. I – we – all thought it would."

She wrapped me in a hug and I was thrilled with my winning performance. But, when I got into bed that I night I couldn't fall asleep because everything I had told Ella kept repeating in my head. _Everyone breaks up eventually. Losing Fang as a friend. Accepting the reality. Weird group dynamic._

Finally, I fell into a restless sleep full of unpleasant dreams of ugly breakups and lost friendships.

 **HEYO thanks for everyone who has stuck with the story this far. When I set out to write this, I didn't anticipate it getting this long and had planned to only write 15 chapters or so. Review/PM me and let me know if you'd like me to continue with the story and build the plot more, or if I should just wrap it up in the next chapter or two.**


	16. Chapter 16

The remaining weeks of summer passed in peaceful oblivion. I spent my last summer of not working discovering new running trails that wove up and down the mountains, having bonfires at everyone's houses (except Iggy) and spending time with Fang though we were still careful not to let anything slip. But undoubtedly, something was going to slip.

A week later, I found myself stumbling through my closet, blindly putting on jeans and a t-shirt before making my way downstairs.

"That's what you're wearing for your first day of school?" Ella asked with a hint of derisiveness that I'm going to assume was unintentional.

"Don't remind me."

"Don't you think you're being a little dramatic, Max?" my mom asked sipping a cup of coffee perched on the stool at her desk. "I mean it is only high school."

"Tell me something that's worse than high school," I snapped back. I had grown accustomed to my leisurely lifestyle of sleeping in, hanging out with friends and having no responsibility.

Luckily for me, and probably my mom, she chose to stay quiet rather than rise to the bait. Glad I'm maturing throughout my years. After inhaling the plate of chocolate chip pancakes which thankfully improved my mood significantly, Ella and I headed down the street to where we met Fang on the corner for the walk to school.

"What's Iggy doing here?" I asked Ella as I noticed the blonde head engaged in an animated conversation with the dark one.

She shrugged, "Must've been a weird coincidence."

"You two totally planned this, so that you could flaunt your relationship for the entire school to see," I said half amused, half grossed out as she kissed his cheek and they began the walk to school hand in hand.

"Hi," Fang said with a soft smile spreading across his face.

"What's up?" I asked as I approached, "you're practically glowing."

He shrugged with no response. What else is new? We began the walk in comfortable silence–I knew we were both thinking the same thing. If everyone knew we were a couple would we become the new Ella and Iggy? Constant hand-holding and lots of cuddling.

"We wouldn't be that annoying if people knew about us, right?" I asked clearly one for subtlety.

Fang shrugged, but at least this time he provided a verbal response. "I don't know. I want to say I hope not because they're slightly nauseating, but…"

"But?" I prompted.

"Well, I've never seen Iggy so outwardly happy. Yeah, he's always joking around and being goofy, but he's just so content and happy right now. I feel like people can't see how happy I am either." His voice trailed off to a mumble at the end.

"I know," I said giving him a small smile. "And that's the important part, right?"

He nodded returning to silence. He broke his assumed silence after a few more minutes, "Sometimes I wish everyone knew. Especially at school. I'd love nothing more than for Dylan to find out about us."

I sighed; I had been thinking the exact same thing, but about Lissa. She had been going after Fang for years and had finally started to give up once I assumed the role of best friend, but knowing we were finally dating would really put her in her place.

"And Lissa," Fang and I said at the exact same time and I laughed. The amount of times we were on the exact same wavelength was mildly concerning, but entirely amusing.

"Besides, if everyone knew, then I'd be able to do this," I stood on my tip toes and kissed Fang's cheek.

"I could do this," he said grabbing my hand. I'd always assumed that it would be more pleasant if guys moisturized their hands more often, so they were soft to hold, but I liked how strong his hand felt in mine. I felt protected. Taken care of.

At this point, Iggy and Ella were a few blocks ahead of us with their hands swinging in between them as they walked.

"And this," I said softly before placing a gentle kiss on Fang's lips. His hands grazed the sides of my arms and I felt a chill go down my spine.

"Come on," he said with a playful smirk grabbing my hand again and leading me in a swift jog down the street. "We're going to be late."

"As if I care," I muttered.

"Save it for the rest of the year."

Ten minutes later we were approaching the school and had made an explicit effort to let go of our hands and act casual.

"Oh, look at the lovebirds," Spencer smirked as he walked up to us adjusting his glasses.

I rolled my eyes, "We're still trying to keep this relatively secret. Well from everyone except you."

"And you know if Dylan and Lissa found out it wouldn't be the worst thing."

Spencer just rolled his eyes, "I'm not getting involved in any of this high school drama. But speaking of drama, I have an acting class third period. I might vomit." I watched as the color visibly drained from his face and he tightened the straps on his backpack.

"I'm sure it'll be totally fine, Spence. A lot of those classes don't even make you act; they just have you read lines from your seats and then analyze the rhetoric."

"Since when are you the expert on drama class?" Fang asked looking surprised.

"I got put in one too," I said as a scowl spread across my face. "I'm still trying to switch out of it, but the administrations insisting I stay in the class because I still need to fulfill my artistic requirement. This is so stupid. Why would I ever need to know how to act or draw or play an instrument?"

"It's called being well-rounded, Max," Fang said sarcastically. "A jack of all-trades. That's college acceptance stuff."

"Basically, a lot of high schools in the area are implementing a core curriculum to mirror that of a lot of liberal arts universities. They've been focusing on educating the 'whole individual' rather than just providing knowledge on your selected field."

"Sounds like a waste of time and money to me. I still don't see how dressing up as Juliet is going to help anyone aspiring to be a doctor practice medicine more effectively."

"Believe me, Max. I'm not arguing with you," Spencer said his eyes flickering about the inside of the hallway, no doubt absorbing countless details about the student body I would never know. "Well, I better go sit down before I actually do throw up," he said as Fang and I watched his navy clad legs disappear into the sea of bodies in the hallway.

"Poor kid," Fang muttered as we found our lockers.

"Is it that bad?" I asked Fang who was leaning over me as I shoved a few textbooks into my backpack. "On a scale of 1 to 10 how much am I going to hate it?"

"I mean it's unpleasant if that's what you're asking. But it honestly depends on the teacher. I had Mr. Erickson and she did not want to be there as much as we didn't, so we just watched a bunch of recordings of plays and then talked about them on occasion. Probably one of the easiest classes I've ever taken here. Huge bummer for the nerds that actually wanted to read and act out Shakespeare though."

"You don't like Shakespeare even though you have the largest assortment of books I've ever seen?"

"It's not Shakespeare I have a problem with, it's acting. Just being in the spotlight like that…" he trailed off and shook his head to clear his thoughts.

I decided that reminding him that ski racing was essentially the same thing just via exercise instead of song was probably not the best idea. "Fair enough. As long as I don't kill somebody in theatre, the rest of my classes should be fine."

-(page break – same chapter)—

Exactly 390 minutes later, Fang was waiting promptly at my locker. He opened his mouth, presumably to ask about how my day was, but I beat him to it.

"It was horrible. My theatre class? It's basically an acting class. Our teacher is literally the drama instructor – the one that leads all of the plays and coordinates everything. No thank you."

"At least she'll be engaging," Fang said trying to hide the smile on his face. He knew how much I detested acting.

"I'm not amused." With my luck I would be stuck playing the main role just because everyone wanted to watch me make a fool of myself.

"Max," he said with a poorly suppressed laugh, "I promise, it'll be fine. I'm sure there will be plenty of die-hard drama dorks to play the big roles. You can just be one of the background roles if you have to. Like a tree or something."

"You think I should be a tree?"

"You'd make a cute tree," he said before kissing the top of my head.

I was about to retort with a witty comment when I noticed Nudge staring at us with her eyes bulging out of her head.

I couldn't decide if it was better to not address the situation and pretend I didn't notice because I didn't think it was weird or if I should play the platonic card some more.

Before I could decide, Nudge opened her mouth and just pointed between the two of us spluttering like a drowning fish.

"I've never seen you so speechless before," I teased, and she still just stared at me.

"Are you two…?" she trailed off clearly too excited to speak in full sentences yet. The broken phrases were as far as she'd gotten at this point.

I pretended to look slightly confused, but Fang cut me off.

"Nudge, please just drop it. Don't you think that if we'd gotten together we would've told our best friends? Besides, we could finally live in peace, so I'm pretty sure we would've just told you."

Nudge's face fell and even I was somewhat impressed with Fang's performance. Either way, it got me off the hook from having to lie my way out of that one.

"But that was so cute. You kissed her head," Nudge said with her chestnut eyes widening and silently studying our faces.

"Saucy," I muttered, and Fang laughed. Back to normal.

Nudge just rolled her eyes, and I hoped she was at least somewhat convinced.

"So," I asked, eager to change the subject. "How was your first day back in this hole?"

"Great! I have four classes with Ella and two with Derek. The ones with Ella are mostly lecture based which is annoying because we can't talk really, but you know I have no problems with that. But, we do have yoga together which is hype because we can get fun and fit! _And_ we all have lunch together again which is phenomenal because, then I can keep an eye on you two."

Clearly, she wasn't done with us. I opened my mouth to protest, but the motor-mouth plowed on.

"And even better, Derek is in my chemistry class. Everyone knows that's the best class to have with a friend because there are so many labs and projects, so we'll probably spend a lot of time together. Plus, it's Mr. McConahugh, who is like a total bro and lets us sit where we want."

"So, you're into Derek still?" I asked feeling slightly overwhelmed. Fang and I exchanged glances and he flashed me a quick lopsided smirk as Nudge's rambling began again.

"I haven't decided yet. Is he cute? Yes. Is he funny? Yes. Is he boyfriend material? I'm undecided. Besides, there's so many girls fawning after him, I'm not sure it's worth my time."

"Nudge, he's one of your best friends. Don't you think it would be better if you just told him how you really feel? Besides, you're a total catch," I asked trying to get this matter cleared up, so I didn't have to deal with it anymore. I tried to be a supportive friend, but this was Ella's area of expertise – not mine.

"I'll tell him when you and Fang tell each other how you really feel," she said thinking she had us cornered.

"Fine," I said doing my best to sound irritated. I had to suppress a smirk as I realized our hidden relationship could potentially work to our advantage. We suddenly had a new form of leverage.

I felt Fang's body shifting his weight behind me, and I could tell he was thinking the same thing. We just needed to bide our time until we needed something.

"Besides, I got asked on a date for Friday night anyway."

"Then why are we even having this conversation, Nudge?" I asked exasperated after having to endure seven hours of torture and then this 30 minute conversation which was arguably worse than my 55 minute theater class.

She just rolled her eyes, and shook her head undoubtedly thinking about how useless I was in these kinds of situations. But, in my defense, why would she be contemplating other male suitors if she already had a date in three days? I realized I should try to be more supportive again. "Who's your date with?"

"His name's Gray."

"Like the color?" I asked.

She nodded, clearly unphased by my uncultured nature. "He's new and just moved here from Rhode Island because he used to go to an academy for theater, but then he realized he wants to pursue medicine and go to medical school."

"Nerd alert," Fang mumbled, but quiet enough that only I could hear.

"He's beautiful," Nudge said with a soft smile. "Light brown hair, green eyes and the best smile."

"Oh, I think he's in my acting class," I blurted out recalling the kid who had been introduced by the theater director before reading through the syllabus.

"Ugh, really? I'm so jealous. You should totally talk to him, Max. Find yourself a boyfriend," she said, and I felt Fang tense up ever so slightly behind me. No one else would've noticed, but I could notice even the slightest change in his body language.

"Nudge, you're going on a date with him this weekend. Why on earth would I try to get in the middle of it?"

She shrugged. I will never understand girls. "You're way prettier than me. I'm pretty sure this date is like a networking event for him. He knows I'm friends with pretty much everyone, and this way he can scope out the playing field."

"He's all yours, Nudge. Theater kids aren't really my type."

"I'll put a good word in," she said with a wink before walking off to go find my sister to discuss date options, clothes and their weekend plans.

"Shall we?" Fang asked, motioning towards the door and we started the walk home.

Before we even made it across the parking lot, we were intercepted by Lissa and her posse.

"You're still here? You weren't kicked out for not being an asset to the school?" Lissa asked with a perfectly timed hair flip that showed off her perfectly manicured nails.

"I'm just impressed you passed enough of your classes to come back for another year," I told her with a bright smile.

Lissa scowled, and two of her makeup covered friends behind her looked confused. Maybe they were the ones who should be proud for not flunking out.

"This isn't over, Max," she said, her sparkling green eyes were narrowed in what I would assume was an attempt to look menacing.

"I didn't even though this was started," I retorted.

"Come on, Max," Fang said, draping an arm around my shoulders and gently steering me away from Lissa's path. "She's not worth it."

In the back of my head, I knew Fang was right, so I let my body be directed by his and we started walking away from the school.

"You know Fang, if you ever want to know what it's like to be with a real girl, you have my number," she called after us.

I gritted my teeth but managed to keep my cool. Fang, on the other hand, spun around. His temper was always very well controlled, but when he lost his cool, it never ended well. His arm flew off my shoulder, but I grabbed his hand.

"Fang let's just go. You're right. She's not worth it," I said, echoing his advice from moments earlier.

He opened his mouth to retort, but his hand went slack, and he succumbed to my gentle pull.

"Thanks," he mumbled after we had made it a few blocks from the school. "I just can't stand when she insults you like that."

My anger subsided at his comment and I felt warm chills tingle down my back. I grabbed his hand softly in mine and felt his fingers tighten as we kept walking. Everything about us felt so natural, so normal.

We walked in comfortable silence for another block before I sensed the presence of another person. I dropped Fang's hand and spun around, silently scanning the street and trees that were densely packed along the sidewalk. Fang mimicked me, and our gazes scoured the scene behind us, but neither of us saw anything. Eventually convinced it must have just been a deer crossing in our wake, we continued the walk home, but I didn't grab his hand again just in case.

We were about a block from my house when Fang pulled me around the corner and we walked another block until we were a fair distance from my neighborhood and the prying eyes of my mom and sister.

"This is harder than I thought," Fang said softly, his dark eyes catching the sun that was still high in the sky. "Nudge setting you up on dates, Lissa making comments at you…it's just a lot harder now."

I felt the corners of my mouth twitch into a soft smile. "I know. Believe me, Lissa makes me even angrier now – something that I didn't think was possible. But she's still going to go after you either way. What do you want to do?"

He gave a noncommittal shrug. Great. Very helpful. I opened my mouth to continue the discussion, but he took a step closer and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "We don't have to decide now," he whispered. I wanted to protest that this discussion was his idea and not mine, but before I could interrupt he leaned in and caught me in a deep kiss.

The fact that our relationship was supposed to be hidden completely slipped my mind and all thoughts of this talk were erased. I instantly jumped back when I heard the sound of a twig snapping, and Fang's eyes went on hyper alert as my breath caught in my mouth. This time, I knew I heard something, or someone. I scanned the trees and the clearing surrounding us but was unable to pick out any signs of life. But, it would've been easy to hide behind one of the trees or brush that covered much of the ground.

"Did you hear a click?" Fang asked softly.

"You mean the twig snapping?"

He shook his head, "No it was much quieter than that. It sounded like the shuttering of a camera lens."

I shook my head, but chills ran down my back for the second time today, but this time it wasn't the good kind. Was someone following us around and photographing us? I tried to shake the thought from my mind as Fang and I began walking back to my house, both of us clearly a little spooked.

Fang bade me good-bye as he he dropped me off at my house and waved at my mom in the window who was clearly spying along with the rest of my friends on my relationship with Fang.

"What were you doing waiting at the window?" I asked casually as I left my Converse on the doormat.

"A mother can't wait for her daughter to come home from her first day of school?"

"Mom, I'm seventeen."

She laughed. "Fine, I was watching for Ella and Iggy."

"Oh," I said with a laugh. Wow, I was paranoid and maybe a bit self-centered. "Why? You like Iggy, right?"

"You know I love Iggy. I just can't picture him being in a relationship with anyone, especially my youngest daughter. He's a goof and Ella is, well let's just say a little high-maintenance."

"That's one way to put it," I said with a smirk. Iggy and Ella were definitely an odd, but surprisingly cute pairing.

"You know what I mean." She ruffled my hair as she walked into the kitchen laughing. "So, you and Fang are still just friends?"

"Why would we be anything different?" I asked trying to sound casual.

"Oh, come on Max," she began as I plopped myself at the counter. "You two are both more than friends and we both know it. Whether or not you're choosing to label yourselves in a romantic way is up to you too, but the sooner you admit that you have feelings for him, the easier your life will be."

I opened my mouth to protest, but she continued. "Fang has feelings for you too, honey. I'm not saying you need to date or even act on these feelings, but you at least need to acknowledge them. If you choose to date, great. If you choose to stay friends, also great. That's all I'm going to say. Now, what do you want for dinner?"


	17. Chapter 17

"So," Ella exclaimed as we set off walking down the driveway. "Iggy and I have date night tomorrow, but I don't know what to wear. My maroon leather jacket, dark jeans and booties or is it better to wear my suede skirt, denim jacket and olive sweater?"

I just looked at her, "Do you know who you're talking to, Ella?"

She shook her head and kept walking. "Okay, fine. I'll reword. If you were a guy," she began.

"Yeah, I'm not going to answer that," I muttered as I kicked a pinecone, watching it roll down the sloping street.

"You're useless." She paused. "Can I give you some fashion advice?"

"This has been a fun conversation of subtle insults," I said still watching the pinecone as it slowly came to a halt.

She huffed, "I'm just trying to help you, Max." Well, can you help me by not talking? I wanted to say but managed to hold my tongue. I had been trying to improve my manners and the general amount of insults I issued a day, but I knew I was eventually going to snap. "Let me take you shopping. I can help you learn what's flattering on your figure, find the colors that look best with your skin and eyes and even add a selection of jewelry. We can find some makeup"

"What's the sudden interest in my physical appearance?" I snapped.

"I'm just trying to help you reach your full potential," she said in a surprisingly nice tone considering my retort.

Thankfully, we had just reached Derek's house where we were going to have a movie night. We headed to the backyard first where everyone (read: Iggy, Derek, Nudge and Spencer) was circled around a blazing fire.

"Ella! Max!" Nudge shrieked as if she hadn't seen us in weeks. Ella ran over to hug her best friend.

"Don't trip in the fire!" I called after her. Nudge and Ella ignored me, but I saw Derek chuckle while Iggy went over to sit with Ella.

I scooted around the fire and sat down next to Derek.

"Max, long time, no see. Where's your other half?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked much more defensively than I had intended. Spencer caught my eye behind Derek's head and shot me a look. Nudge and Ella exchanged looks and Derek held his hands up in mock compliance as I tried to laugh it off. "Sorry," I muttered quickly. "It's been a long week."

"Please elaborate on why your first week of the semester in high school could have been so hard," Iggy said smirking.

I rolled my eyes. "High school is very taxing, Iggy. Not that you would have noticed with all the time you spend with my sister."

His face blushed harshly in the glow of the fire, but he looked very happy. "And I'm going to take that as a compliment."

Ella smiled and wrapped an arm around his shoulder from where she was perched on the edge of his chair.

"But I don't know. I'm sure Fang's on his way," I said taking seat and leaning back as I scanned the sky for stars. Being in the mountains was incredible because every night was crystal clear. I could never imagine myself living in some stuffy city where even Orion and the Big Dipper are hidden behind layers of smoke from pollution.

"So, how was your date with Gray, Nudge?" Derek asked, thankfully choosing to ignore my awkward entrance.

"Ugh," she sighed. "He's so dreamy and so talented. His smile literally makes the Sun stop in its tracks."

"Figuratively," Spencer muttered, and Derek and I chuckled, but Nudge was too invested in her fantasy romance to notice.

"And his eyes are just so pretty. They're really green, but they have specks of blue and light brown in them. They're so nice and he actually looked me in the eye which never happens with 16 year old boys."

"So, it went well?" Derek prodded hoping to prod Nudge in the right direction.

"Well, no. I wasn't exactly expecting it to be a romantic date or anything because I do think he just wanted to get to know me because I know so many people. But, I wasn't exactly expecting him to ask me to set him up with someone."

"That's so rude!" Ella said chiming in for the first time. "Who has the audacity to ask a girl out on a date and then ask to meet other girls? Especially somebody new to this town!"

"I told you I didn't like him before all this even happened Nudge," I told her trying not to laugh.

"You only don't like him because he's into theatre and you're not."

"Glad you're broadening your horizons to new types of people, Max. Very mature." Iggy shook his head at me laughing from across the flames.

"Well, who was the girl?" Ella asked clearly still adamant about this betrayal of her best friend.

"It was Max," Spencer said. Five heads spun to face him and Nudge looked absolutely floored.

"Spencer…what…how did you know? Are you friends with Gray? Did you know it was Max before we went out?" Nudge spluttered.

"Calm down, Nudge. I promise I didn't know anything. It was just an educated guess – a hypothesis if you will." Nudge still looked confused. "I was with you, Max and Fang when you were detailing your attraction to Gray after class one day by the lockers, and after you said that I just happened to be near him in the hallways and before classes frequently. Harding High isn't exactly a large building. And I noticed him several times watching Max with that wistfulness that you associate with a minor crush. So, when you mentioned that Gray was into somebody else at Harding, I just assumed it was Max based on my personal encounters and the relatively small class size."

"You're freaky, dude," Derek said from his seat, but fist bumped him anyway. Guys are weird. But then I realized what Spencer was saying: Gray, this theater dork from Rhode Island, had a potential crush on me and was using Nudge to make his move.

"Wait hold up," I said, sitting back up in my chair. "Is this true Nudge?"

She nodded, "Yeah. He was super nice and I guess he wasn't under the impression that we were having a romantic-ish evening. We were chatting about something and then theater class came up and he said there was a cute girl in his class. Naturally, I asked who, but he didn't know your name, so he just described you and I obviously knew it was you. So, I showed him a picture and he confirmed."

"I don't know what to do with this information," I said, and the guys laughed.

Ella groaned and Nudge just sighed. "Well you could go on a date with him," Nudge said rather bluntly.

"Max's going on a date with who?" A familiar voice asked as the footsteps stopped above my chair.

"Nobody," I assured him quickly as the guys greeted him enthusiastically. His brow furrowed and he looked at me weird for a second, but he must have been afraid he was drawing attention to himself because he dragged a chair into the space between Spencer and me.

"Actually, Max is going on a date with someone," Ella said.

"I'm sorry since when are you making my decisions for me?" I asked.

Ella shrugged. "Since now because you're apparently unable to make the right ones."

Derek let out a low whistle and Spencer audibly tensed. Neither of them wanted to deal with sisterly drama and honestly, neither did I.

"Gray, that new theater kid from the East Coast, has the hots for Max," Derek muttered to Fang who didn't respond, but I saw his hands tense up as he slid them into his pockets.

"Thanks for that graphic support, Derek, but I'm not going on any dates with this theater kid any time soon."

"And why is that?" Nudge asked.

"Because I don't even know this kid! Besides, you clearly are into him. You should just pursue this. I'm supporting you as a friend," I said growing more and more exasperated.

"As fun as this girl drama is," Iggy interrupted, "I'd rather talk about almost anything else. Besides, gossip is boring. Let's play a game."

"Iggy choosing a game makes me nervous," Nudge said.

"What about truth or dare?" Iggy, of course, asked.

"Too middle-school," Nudge said.

"Scrabble," Spencer suggested.

"Too academic," I replied. "Sorry Spence."

"Charades," Ella suggested.

"Absolutely not," Fang muttered.

"Yeah, I second that. A hard no from me," I added. No acting outside of necessary class hours.

"What about King's Cup?" Derek asked.

"I'm in," Iggy said. We all chimed in our approval.

"I need the bathroom, so I'll grab a deck of cards and some beers," I said hopping up.

I grabbed a six-pack from Derek's "super secrete stash" under his bed but was interrupted before I could find the cards.

"Hi," Fang whispered his face breaking into half a smile. He grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the door. "What was all of that about Gray?"

"Oh, nothing," I muttered hoping to down play it. "He asked Nudge if she had any single friends, and Nudge suggested me. I'm not sure if she was serious or if she was trying to get me to crack and say something about us."

"Then why did Derek say he thought you were attractive?" I smirked at his replacement of the words "the hots" with attractive.

"Well, I guess he was asking about some girl in his drama class, and that girl happened to be me. And naturally, Nudge trying to stir the pot, wants me to go on a date with him and Ella was backing her up," I explained.

"And?"

"And what?"

"And what did you say?"

"What do you think I said Fang, don't be an idiot. Of course, I turned the offer down, and Iggy thankfully changed the subject. He was shockingly helpful for once."

"Sorry, you're right. I don't know why I even asked that."

I smiled, "If worst came to worst, I would tell them about us before going on a date with some random dork with pretty eyes."

Fang practically leapt back from his position next to me as we heard footsteps approaching.

"What are the two lovebirds doing in here?" Iggy asked smirking. "I was sent to nullify any sexual tension or activity that was currently happening."

"Gee thanks, Ig. While you're at it, do you mind finding the deck of cards?" I rolled my eyes as he wiggled his eyebrows at us.

Accompanied by Iggy and a deck of cards, we returned to the circle and prepared King's Cup.

"Rules are simple." Derek began. "Two you. Three me. Four floor. Five guys. Six chicks. Seven heaven. Eight mate. Nine rhyme. Ten never have I ever. Jack categories. Queen question. King King's Cup. And ace is waterfall."

The game started smoothly with Nudge and Ella choosing each other as mates and Spencer enlightening everyone with the meaning of the world hurcle which rhymes with circle. (In case you were wondering, it means to bring your arms and legs in towards your body – apparently.)

Iggy pulled the third ten, so we did another round of never have I ever. None of us are that exciting or do that many wild things, so we started targeting each other when we ran out of good ones.

"Never have I ever been kicked out of school," Ella said smirking at me. I glared at her as I bent my first finger down.

"Never have I ever fallen off a chairlift," Derek said flashing Nudge a playful smile. I nudged Fang and ha gave me a look. We were silently rooting for the two of them to get together partly because it would take the spotlight off of us, but partly because they were secretly into each other but refused to acknowledge it. Sound familiar?

Thankfully I had never technically fallen off a chairlift, so I was spared.

"Never have I ever broken a bone," Spencer said quickly hating his brief moments in the spotlight.

"Never have I ever had feelings for my best friend but refused to address them," Iggy said with a maniacal smile in my direction.

"No offense, but this game sucks." I said finishing my drink. "I think I'm going to bounce."

"That's so lame, Max. You're totally just avoiding the bitch cup," Iggy groaned.

"We've run out of things to talk about, so we're using never have I ever as a way to target people." I shrugged. "I'm bored and tired."

"Rude," Iggy muttered with mock severity etched on his face.

"I'll walk you home," Fang, who had been even more quiet than usual, said getting to his feet.

Nudge wiggled her eyebrows, "A romantic moonlit walk? Sparks are flying."

Fang just rolled his eyes as per usual. "It's dark out and I live around the corner from her. This is purely safety."

Nudge did not look convinced.

"Anyone else want a safety escort?"

Everyone laughed, but nobody took him up on it.

"Ella are you coming with us?" I asked.

"I wouldn't want to interrupt," she said slyly. "Besides, I'm sleeping over at Nudge's."

"Suit yourself. See you all hopefully later," I muttered as we headed down his driveway. I turned to Fang who was walking stoically beside me, "You don't have to do this, Fang. I can take care of myself."

He shrugged again but didn't respond.

"What's up?" I asked. I hated the non-verbal shrugging. "You're being extra quiet and moody."

"I'm not moody," he retorted. He paused. "I'm just tired of having to change how I act around my friends."

Oh. "I know," I said but trailed off not knowing where I wanted to take that sentence.

"Look, don't you think it would just be easier if everyone knew? No more sneaking around. No more obnoxious jokes."

"Probably more obnoxious jokes," I admitted with a smirk.

"Well, what do you think?" He said turning his sparkling eyes on me. I hated when he did that because it's so hard to resist.

"I'm not against it."

"So tomorrow?"

"Wouldn't it be fun to mess with them first?"

He paused and then his face split into a smirk. "Well what did you have in mind?"

 **So sorry for the super long delay, but there have been a million things going on. Thanks to anyone who has stuck with me and this story over the past year. As always, I thoroughly enjoy any/all feedback, so don't hesitate to hit me with your thoughts.**


	18. Chapter 18

"Wish me luck," I muttered to Fang and Iggy as we entered the un-welcoming doors of Harding High. "Today we start our 'presentation' unit in drama class. Apparently just reading and studying plays is inadequate, so Mrs. Danbury has decided we need to recreate plays."

"Maybe she uses her drama classes to scout talent for the fall and spring productions. Who knows? Maybe she'll select you as her lead actress for the upcoming musical." Iggy ducked under my glare and slipped through a door into his first class.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Max," Fang muttered.

"Famous last words," I said with a smirk before slipping into the dim classroom. I slid into my usual spot in the back row and to my surprise someone slid into the desk next to me. I had been sitting alone for the beginning of the semester and not to be rude, but I preferred it that way.

"Hi," a soft voice said, and I turned slightly in my seat to face him. He extended a hand, "I'm Gray. Gray Mallard. I moved here from Rhode Island, but my family is out in Colorado for good now."

I gave him a quick tight-lipped smile, "I'm Max. It's nice to meet you." After what Nudge had told me, I felt slightly on guard. I shook his hand quickly before returning it to my natural grip around my water bottle.

"How do you like it here? At Harding High?" He asked scooting his chair near over towards my desk.

"It's been good, I guess. I mean it's high school. I don't want to throw myself off the roof every time I walk in the door," I smirked. "Just once a week."

Gray laughed, his eyes sparkling slightly in the light. "Glad you've managed to make it through."

"It's been a taxing year," I said laughing.

"You've only been here a year?" he asked.

I nodded, "I moved here at the end of last summer, so this is my second academic year at Harding." I shrugged. "It was fine. People here are pretty cool."

"Where'd you move from?"

"Arizona. My mom got offered a better job," I shrugged again. Wow, I was really turning into Fang.

"What does she do?"

For the first time in my life, or well at least during the semester, I was relieved as Mrs. Danbury bustled into the classroom. I felt like I was being bombarded with questions and had a feeling Gray wasn't planning on stopping until class began.

"She's a vet," I said before pointedly turning my attention to the front of the class – something I rarely did until I received death glares from my classmates or teachers.

Gray opened his mouth, clearly about to ask another question, when Mrs. Danbury cut him off. "Alright, today is the day that everybody has been waiting for when the real acting begins! As school tradition holds, we will select one theatrical production to cast within the class, practice and maybe even perform during our beloved Arts Week."

I felt my throat tighten and my stomach dropped. Suddenly, I wished I was answering Gray's hundreds of questions. Anything compared to the torture of getting selected to having to perform in the school's musical.

She plowed on, her blonde hair piled on top of her head swaying perilously from side to side as she walked: "We have been given the great fortune to purchase the musical rights to _The Beauty and the Beast_ a classic production that highlights romance, friendships, character development and employs a wide variety of the drama principals we have studied thus far."

Somebody from the front row raised their hand, "Who will get cast for the different parts? And what about the costumes, sets and overall production?"

Mrs. Danbury nodded, "I'm so glad to see such keen interest and insights. Because this is just an academic class, there will not work required outside of this class besides the typical homework assignments and therefore, it can be considered a mini-production. No lights, no crazy sets, no pit orchestra. Just true emotion and passion of actors and actresses upon the stage. Keeping with such a theme, we will likely not rehearse the entire musical – just the scenes in which we can most benefit educationally as a class, and so we can grasp the beauty of the theater within."

"Can I switch classes?" I muttered under my breath.

Thankfully, a bunch of very talented, very engaged and very interested girls sat in the front of the class who were already arguing over roles they wanted which left me very content sitting in the background waiting to be assigned the role of a villager. Preferably, a mute villager that doesn't dance, talk or sing. Honestly, Fang was right – I'd be perfectly happy as part of the set.

For the remainder of the class, I counted the ceiling tiles in the auditorium as each of the girls sang their own rendition of a song from Beauty and the Beast. (In case you were wondering, there were 264 tiles ceiling tiles.)

The second the bell rang, I booked it out of that room even as I heard Mrs. Danbury yell, "The bell doesn't dismiss you, Max. I dismiss you." Uh, yeah. She dismissed me when she decided we had to act for an hour every day and make me sit there in great pain.

"Max," a familiar voice called as I let the auditorium door slam behind me. "Max, hey," he breathed as he caught up to me.

"Oh, yeah. What's up?" I asked Gray who looked slightly shaken by his rapid emergence from the dark drama room.

"I was wondering if you wanted to, you know, hang out this weekend? Maybe grab coffee or lunch? Or, I'd love to meet some of your other friends and get to know Harding High better."

I shifted uncomfortably; Nudge had briefly warned me about this. "Sorry, I'm really busy this weekend. Maybe some other time?"

I watched awkwardly as his face physically fell. "Well, if anything changes, here's my number." He handed me a small, professional-looking card that had his name, phone number and apparently some acting agent on it.

I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but as usual I'm pretty sure it came out as much more of a grimace. I slipped his card into my pocket. As I turned around, much to my surprise and relief, Fang had appeared out of nowhere leaning against the closest set of lockers.

"On a scale from Marie Kondo to Fyre Festival, how put together was drama class?" I just shook my head as his dark eyes fixated intently on me. "Come on, I've been working on that all morning."

I rolled my eyes but couldn't resist the twitch at the corners of my mouth. "It was a solid catastrophe. A full-fledged Fyre Festival."

"Did she make you act?" He asked looking mildly concerned.

I shook my head, "No, but apparently were doing a case study of Beauty and the Beast with the possibility of performing at Arts Week because apparently showcasing a bunch of talentless seventeen year-olds is good entertainment for the school."

He smirked, "You're not all talentless. I'm sure there will be some people who will volunteer for the lead roles and you can be some piece of furniture or something."

"Have you seen the movie?" I asked incredulously. "Literally all of the furniture talks."

He shrugged, "I saw it when I was like four or five. Angel would probably like it, but she's too caught up in Moana still. If you prefer, maybe they can cast you as a plant or something. Or a non-magical inanimate object. Or, maybe you should just direct the play."

"Yeah sure, but that defeats the purpose of not doing any work."

"You're making this very difficult for me and for yourself," Fang said with a rare sparkle in his eye.

"Let's just go to lunch," I said laughing as I tugged on his jacket heading towards the cafeteria.

"So," Nudge said turning pointedly to me the second Fang and I slid into the lunch table.

"So?" I asked her although I had an unfortunate feeling I knew where this was going.

"What's up with you blowing Gray off?" I opened my mouth to answer, but it was unnecessary because as usual, she had much more to say. "He's new! You remember what it was like to be new! That was you, just over a year ago with no friends and no one to turn to at school. And you totally ignored him even though I know for a fact you're not busy this weekend. Besides, he's got such dreamy eyes, a great smile and he's into you."

"What happened?" Fang asked casually, but I felt his arms tighten next to me and I felt as he twisted his ankles together underneath his chair.

"It's nothing," I muttered. "Gray, the new kid in my drama class, asked me to hang out this weekend, but I told him I couldn't because I'm busy. Which I am," I added defiantly to Nudge.

I felt Fang's arms loosen slightly to his sides, but his feet remained where they were tucked underneath his seat.

"What do you possibly have the entire weekend, Max?"

"Well, I told my mom I would consider a college visit with her," I said making things up wildly as I went. "She's been harassing me about taking the whole college application process seriously before it's my senior year and I have to actually apply to schools."

"Oh," Nudge said, clearly at a loss for words for once.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly trying to ease the tension I had undoubtedly created, "but I don't understand why you can't take him under your wing. You know more people here and are more involved than I am; I think he'd benefit a lot more from your guidance and friendship than mine. Besides you're the one who's actually friendly."

Nudge gave me a soft smile, and I was glad I had for once cleared tension that I had caused. "I'll see what I can do, but he wants you not me, Max."

I groaned. I really didn't have the time nor mental capacity for this. No means no, so move on and deal with it. Maybe this was a sign that Fang and I finally needed to come clean with our relationship.

"College visits?" Fang asked me with his eyebrows raised as we ventured home after our last class a few hours later.

I smirked, "Good, huh? I had to make something up that was believable for me to busy the 'entire weekend'."

"Less believable for you, maybe," he said shooting his hand out and catching a fallen leaf that was plummeting towards the ground.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked turning to face him trying to minimize the accusatory tone.

"Nothing," he said shaking his head. "But, I am beginning to wonder if we should tell them."

"Tell them what?" I asked not entirely listening as I too tried to catch a leaf that had fallen from its tree seconds before.

"About us."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Just with these guys chasing you around, asking you on dates…" he trailed off.

"Okay, it was really just one guy. Apparently quite a relentless guy, but still." Fang raised his eyebrows looking at me quizzically. "But, I agree with you."

"Tonight?" He asked.

"Plan starts tonig—" My voice trailed off as I pulled my phone out of its pocket which was buzzing incessantly for some reason. The only person who ever consistently texted me was Fang, so all the notifications were unusual.

Scanning his phone as well, Fang swore under his breath. "Where did they get this?" He asked turning the phone towards me, shoving it in my face.

It my eyes a second to adjust as the same photo came into focus on my screen. Then, I proceeded to swear not-so-softly under my breath. It was a photograph of Fang and me taken apparently during one of the few times we've kissed in the surrounding neighborhood, and somebody had shared the photo to Twitter where it was now trending. His hands were gently holding my waist and my hair thankfully hung in a sheath across my face.

"Wait," he muttered, "there's a caption. 'Guaranteed Max had a better time with me.'" Fang swore again, but this time very audibly. He had been holding an apple in his hand which suddenly whipped across the field in front of us and erupted impressively against one of the nearby trees. "Who does he think he is?" All of the color had rushed to Fang's face, and his fists were clenched very distinctly at his sides. "I'm gonna kill him."

"Fang," I whispered getting in front of him and grabbing his hands trying to unclench the tightened fists they had become. "Please just look at me."

The golden specks that usually danced in his eyes were gone. He shifted his gaze to meet mine and I felt his hands slacken slightly. "It's okay. We'll…we'll deal with this." Under the surface, I was seething. I could practically feel my blood begin to boil, but Fang was angrier than I had ever seen him. He looked like he had the power to do some serious physical damage, and I knew it was my job to calm him down.

"What right does he have?" Fang's voice sounded like a growl. Angry. Threatening. Upset.

"He's a horrible human being," I whispered

"Nobody has the right to treat you like that, Max. Nobody. Especially not Dylan."

"Fang," I sighed. For once, I had no words. That freak must have been following us through the woods. To make matters worse, Lissa had retweeted the picture with her own sadistic twisted caption, ' fride Call me when you get sick of this uncultured trash'. "What do you want to do?"

"I'd like to go beat the crap out of Dylan and explain to him exactly how women should be treated."

"Okay, let me rephrase that. As much as I would love to see you pummel Dylan into the ground, I really don't think this is worth you getting charged with battery, or even assault. Out of the following potential options, what would you like to do? We can go home. Unpack this. Take a minute. We can go to the Creek Overlook. We can go find Iggy and Ella – get an outside opinion. We can technically report this to the school board as cyber bullying."

"Max," he looked at me as though he was in pain, "the last thing I would do is go and report this photo to the school. What are they going to do?"

I smirked, "I just wanted to offer it up in case you had a change of heart." Apparently, sarcasm was not the way to calm Fang down today. "Come here," I said grabbing his hands gently and pulling him to a secluded patch of land with a large fallen tree directly blocking the path. I sat down. "Look. Dylan is an absolute asshat for taking that picture, let alone posting it, but, he's not worth it. But you are worth it. If you go after him in any sense, you're going to be the one paying for it and that's exactly what he wants. He wants you to pay for it."

I think I was finally starting to get through to him. His body lost its rigidness, and he sat in the tree looking defeated yet determined. His muscles resumed a relaxed position, but the spark seemed to be reignited in his obsidian eyes.

"Besides," I continued, "at least now everyone knows that we're dating. We no longer have to be that subtle."

"Clearly we weren't being subtle enough before if there's photographic evidence of one afternoon."

"Let's figure out a way to get back at Dylan, together, that doesn't put either of"D us at risk. Deal?"

He nodded slowly, "Deal."

A pickup truck drove along the side rode that was just a few feet from our tree bench, but as it grew closer, the truck began to lose speed. A tan, blond, blue-eyed filled the driver's window. He opened his mouth to say something demeaning, I'm sure, to Fang who had jumped up next to me.

But suddenly, Fang was no longer by my side. I'd rarely seen him move so fast as he chased down my would-be-attacker and apparent stalker. Dylan, in the passenger seat window, shouted something at Fang I couldn't hear. As the truck picked up speed, it rounded the corner with Fang trailing shortly behind as they both quickly disappeared out of sight.


End file.
